DUKE  UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 

Gift  of 

Estate,  oi 
George  E.  Hcuitman 


Date  Due 


4  4 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/evolutionofsoul01  huds 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 
AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 


BY  DR.  HUDSON. 

— * — 

THE  LAW  OF  PSYCHIC  PHENOMENA.  12mo  $\.50 

A  SCIENTIFIC  DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE 

FUTURE  LIFE.  12mo  .  .  .  .1.50 

THE  DIVINE  PEDIGREE  OF  MAN.  l2mo  .  1.50 
THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE.  12mo  ...  I.50 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL.  l2mo  .  l.SO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

CHICAGO. 


THE 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


©tfjer  lEssags 


BY 


THOMSON  JAY  HUDSON,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  “the  LAW  OF  PSYCHIC  PHENOMENA,”  “THE  LAW  OF 
MENTAL  MEDICINE,”  ETC. 


WITH  PORTRAIT  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


Third  Edition 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1908 


Copyright 

By  a.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

A.D.  1904 


Published  March  12,  1904 
Second  Edition,  July,  1906 
Third  Edition,  November,  1908 

Entered  at  Stationers’  Hall,  London 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


This  book  is  dedicated  to  my  father’ s  friend,  the 
Reverend  Charles  L.  Arnold 
as  a  slight  testimotiial  of  the  affection  and  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  by  its  author. 

C.  £.  H. 


« 


855 


i 


PREFACE. 


IN  arranging  the  following  essays  and  lectures  for  publication, 
their  respective  dates  of  production  have  been  disregarded 
for  the  sake  of  presenting  them,  as  far  as  possible,  in  a  natural 
sequence.  The  first  of  the  articles  contains  a  statement  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  author’s  hypothesis,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  introductory  to  those  which  follow.  It  will  be  found 
that  these  principles  are  restated,  briefly,  in  other  parts  of  the 
book ;  but  the  repetition  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  papers  were 
written  at  considerable  intervals  of  time,  and  for  readers  or 
audiences  not  always  familiar  with  the  author’s  theories.  I  have 
ventured,  however,  to  eliminate  much  of  the  iterated  matter, 
leaving  only  that  which  bears  directly  upon  the  subject  under 
consideration  in  the  article  in  which  it  occurs. 

It  was  the  author’s  purpose  to  revise  his  essays  before  their 
republication  in  the  form  of  a  collection,  but  his  life’s  work 
ended  with  the  last  page  of  “  The  Law  of  Mental  Medicine.” 
The  revision,  however,  would  have  resulted  only  in  amplifying 
and  elaborating  the  applications  of  his  hypothesis.  He  had  no 
changes  to  make  in  its  fundamentals.  During  the  ten  years 
which  have  passed  since  the  appearance  of  the  first  of  his  works 
on  psychological  subjects,  no  fact  ever  came  under  his  observa¬ 
tion  which  demanded  the  alteration  of  one  of  the  basic  ideas  of 
his  theory;  and  it  can  be  said  that  he  was  not  only  an  earnest  and 
fearless  seeker  after  facts,  but  what  is  better,  an  honest  one. 
He  found  critics  and  opponents,  but  the  most  zealous  have  failed 
thus  far  to  adduce  a  single  phenomenon  out  of  harmony  with 
the  principles  laid  down  in  his  first  work.  Had  such  a  phenom- 


Vlll 


PREFACE. 


enon  been  presented,  he  would  have  been  the  first  to  announce 
the  invalidity  or  inadequacy  of  those  principles. 

In  regard  to  the  theory  of  duality  of  the  human  mental  organ¬ 
ization,  attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  he  did  not 
insist  upon  a  literal  acceptation  of  the  premise  that  man  pos¬ 
sesses  two  minds,  but  said  clearly  and  repeatedly  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  indifference  whether  it  be  held  that  he  has  two  minds, 
or  that  he  has  but  one  which  is  capable  of  manifesting  itself 
in  two  distinct  modes  or  conditions  of  activity  or  states  of  con¬ 
sciousness.  He  indicated  the  line  of  demarkation  between  the 
phenomena  characteristic  of  each  :  he  pointed  out  their  respec¬ 
tive  functions  in  life,  and  the  powers  and  limitations  by  which 
each  is  distinguished  from  the  other,  and  he  was  content  with 
the  proposition  that  all  observable  psychic  phenomena  support 
the  hypothesis  of  mental  duality. 

He  did  not  claim  to  be  the  discoverer  of  a  “  subliminal 
self,”  of  an  “  unconscious  ego,”  of  an  “  under-self,”  or  of  a 
“secondary  consciousness,”  and,  moreover,  he  recognized  the 
plagiarism  in  that  claim  when  made  by  others.  To  quote  his 
words,  “  The  theory  of  duality  has  been  dimly  floating  around 
in  the  minds  of  various  philosophers  from  the  time  when 
Greek  philosophy  ruled  the  intellectual  world  until  the  present 
age.” 

He  accepted  the  hypothetical  duality,  just  as  others  have  done, 
but  he  did  so  with  no  disposition  for  dalliance  and  coquetry  with 
terms,  or  for  shuffling  or  evasion.  He  made  no  effort  to  protect 
his  theories  from  assault  by  surrounding  them  with  a  haze  of 
metaphysics,  metaphor,  or  phrases  in  the  subjunctive.  He  opened 
his  front  to  attack,  and  threw  down  the  gage. 

The  specific  claim  which  should  be  made  for  the  author  of 
“  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena  ”  is  not,  then,  the  hypothesis 
of  mental  duality,  but  the  apprehension  of  the  laws  governing 
the  action  of  the  two  minds,  the  delimitation  of  the  powers  and 
functions  of  each  in  its  relation  to  the  human  organism,  the  per¬ 
ception  of  the  inter-relation  of  the  laws  of  duality  and  sugges¬ 
tion,  and  the  formulation  of  the  master-key  which  unlocks  so 
many  psychological  mysteries  and  opens  the  door  long  barred 


PREFACE. 


IX 


by  ignorance  and  superstition:  I  refer  to  the  maxim,  with  its 
corollaries,  that 

“  The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to  control  by 
the  power  of  suggestion.” 

I  desire  to  thank  the  publishers  of  “  Harper’s  Magazine,”  “  The 
New  York  Medico- Legal  Journal,”  “The  New  York  Medical 
Journal,”  “Everybody’s  Magazine,”  “  Success,”  “The  National 
Magazine,”  “  Suggestion,”  “  The  Hypnotic  Magazine,”  and 
the  editor  of  “Answers  by  Experts,”  for  their  courtesy  in  per¬ 
mitting  the  use  of  many  of  these  articles  for  publication  as  a 
collection. 


Detroit,  Michigan, 

February  i,  1904. 


C.  B.  H. 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


'^HOMSON  JAY  HUDSON  was  born  at  Windham,  Por¬ 
tage  County,  Ohio,  on  the  2 2d  day  of  February,  1834. 
His  American  ancestry  is  traced  back  on  both  sides  of  the 
house  to  the  Colonial  Period,  his  paternal  forebear  having 
landed  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  with  Captain  John  Smith  in 
1607,  and  his  maternal  ancestor.  Governor  William  Bradford, 
at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  in  1620.  His  early  life  was  spent 
on  a  farm,  where  he  bore  the  brunt  of  the  hardships  incident 
to  farm  life  in  days  before  agricultural  machinery  lightened  its 
labors.  To  this,  as  well  as  to  heredity  on  both  sides  of  his 
house,  he  owed  his  robust  health  and  iron  constitution.  His 
early  education  was  acquired  in  the  common  schools  of  his 
neighborhood,  and  at  an  academy  in  a  neighboring  town.  It 
was  here  that  some  of  the  characteristics  of  his  adult  life  first 
asserted  themselves.  He  refused  to  be  bound  by  precedent 
or  to  submit  to  authority  in  the  matter  of  his  education ; 
while  he  followed  the  prescribed  course  faithfully,  he  insisted 
on  adding  such  studies  as  he  deemed  valuable.  For  instance, 
he  surprised  his  common-school  teacher  on  one  occasion  by 
announcing  his  intention  to  study  Natural  Philosophy,  Chem¬ 
istry,  and  Logic,  then  and  there.  It  is  said,  however,  that 
young  Hudson  was  aided  and  abetted  in  his  scheme  of  private 
education  by  a  learned  uncle,  who  loaned  him  books  and  gave 
him  private  instruction.  The  sorrow  and  disappointment  of 


XU 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


his  life  came  when  he  was  prepared  to  enter  college.  It  was 
then  that  his  father  announced  to  him  that  there  was  one  con¬ 
dition,  and  only  one,  upon  which  he  would  consent  to  give 
him  a  college  education ;  and  that  was  that  he  should  enter 
the  ministry.  This  the  young  man  flatly  refused  to  promise, 
and  expressed  his  desire  and  determination  to  study  for  the 
bar ;  adding  that  he  could  not  conscientiously  preach  the 
theological  dogmas  in  which  he  did  not  believe.  The  result 
was  that  the  young  man  abruptly  left  the  paternal  roof  under 
circumstances  that  would  have  daunted  a  nature  less  ener¬ 
getic,  determined,  and  hopeful  than  his.  He  pursued  his 
studies,  however,  with  unabated  zeal,  reciting  to  private  tutors, 
so  that  by  the  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  he  was  fairly 
well  equipped  for  battling  with  the  world.  His  career  as  a 
lawyer  was,  however,  destined  to  be  of  short  duration.  In 
i860  he  removed  to  Port  Huron,  Michigan,  and  in  1865  he 
definitely  abandoned  his  profession  and  entered  the  field  of 
journalism  and  politics.  He  never  but  once  sought  a  politi¬ 
cal  office  for  himself;  and  that  was  in  1866,  when  he  became 
his  party’s  candidate  for  Senator.  He  was  defeated,  however, 
his  party  being  in  the  minority.  He  made  a  strong  canvass 
on  the  occasion,  and  established  a  reputation  as  a  campaign 
orator.  Soon  after  this  he  sold  out  his  paper  and  removed 
to  Detroit,  where  he  became  editor-in-chief  of  the  Detroit 
Daily  Union.  In  this  field  he  achieved  a  notable  success, 
and  soon  became  widely  known  as  a  brilliant  editorial  writer. 
A  few  years  after  this  the  Union  was  merged  with  the  Detroit 
Eveiiing  News,  and  he  became  one  of  the  principal  edi¬ 
torial  writers  on  that  paper.  In  1877  he  was  induced  to  go 
to  Washington  as  the  correspondent  of  the  Scripps  Syndi¬ 
cate,  which  then  consisted  of  five  daily  papers,  published, 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


xiii 

respectively,  in  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  and 
St.  Louis.  He  served  in  this  capacity  for  several  years ;  but 
in  the  meantime  he  was  offered  a  position  on  the  Examining 
Corps  of  the  United  States  Patent  Office.  He  accepted 
this  position  in  1880,  and  continued  in  the  service  for  more 
than  thirteen  years.  He  was  rapidly  promoted,  and  in  1886 
was  made  Principal  Examiner  and  placed  in  charge  of  one 
of  the  Scientific  Divisions  of  the  Patent  Office.  He  served 
in  that  capacity  with  distinguished  ability  until  after  the  pub¬ 
lication  of  his  first  book,  in  1893,  “The  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena.”  Without  violence  to  the  truth  it  may  be  said 
that  one  morning,  in  1893,  Dr.  Hudson  awoke  to  find  him¬ 
self  famous  throughout  the  English-speaking  world.  His 
book  found  an  enormous  sale,  which  still  continues  in  a  con¬ 
stantly  increasing  ratio.  It  was  followed  two  years  later  by 
“A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life.”  By  many 
the  latter  book  is  preferred  ;  but  his  first  great  work  will  be 
the  standard  by  which  posterity  will  estimate  his  standing  as 
a  pioneer  in  the  scientific  survey  of  the  whole  past  field  of 
psychical  research.  These  were  in  turn  followed  by  “  The 
Divine  Pedigree  of  Man,”  and  in  1903,  by  “The  Law 
of  Mental  Medicine.”  The  latter  was  published  only  a  few 
days  before  Dr.  Hudson’s  death,  which  occurred  at  his 
home  in  Detroit,  May  26,  1903,  after  a  severe  attack  of  heart 
trouble. 

In  recognition  of  his  work.  Dr.  Hudson  was  honored  with 
the  degree  of  I.L.D.,  by  St.  John’s  College,  Maryland,  and 
with  Ph.D.,  by  Ewing  College,  Illinois. 


sr:-.vS 


■  ! 

'■ 'S 

i  '  tv 
'k '  'g; 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.  The  Evolution  of  the  Soul .  i 

II.  Science  and  the  Future  Life . 53 

III.  Man’s  Psychic  Powers . 8g 

IV.  Spiritistic  Phenomena  as  Evidence  of  Life  after 

Death . 125 

V.  Spiritism  and  Telepathy  as  Involved  in  the 

Case  of  Mrs.  Leonora  E.  Piper . 147 

VI.  How  I  became  Convinced  of  the  Existence  of 

THE  Faculty  of  Telepathy . 181 

VII.  The  Rationale  of  Hypnotism . 193 

VIII.  Hypnotism  in  its  Relations  to  Criminal  Juris¬ 
prudence  . 2n 

IX.  Psychological  Problems  Relating  to  Criminal 

Confessions  of  Innocent  Persons . 225 

X.  Hypnotism  a  Universal  An.®sthetic  in  Surgery  241 

XL  The  Danger  Lines  in  Hypnotism . 257 

XII.  A  Psychopathic  Study . 273 

XIII.  Prophecy,  Ancient  and  Modern . 303 

XIV.  How  TO  Prepare  the  Mind  for  Success  ....  339 


THE 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

AA^n  OTHER  ESSAYS 

I 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

SOME  years  ago  I  tentatively  formulated  a  work¬ 
ing  hypothesis  for  the  systematic  study  of  the  phe¬ 
nomena  of  the  human  soul,  otherwise  popularly 
known  and  designated  as  psychic  phenomena.  These 
include  mesmerism,  hypnotism,  spiritism,  demonology, 
mental  therapeutics,  and  a  thousand  other  things  which 
need  not  be  mentioned  here,  for  I  have  no  intention  of 
troubling  you  with  them  on  this  occasion. 

The  central  idea  in  my  mind  when  I  entered  upon  the 
study  of  this  subject  was  that  the  phenomena  of  the 
soul  could  and  should  be  studied  just  as  the  physical 
sciences  are  studied.  In  point  of  fact  I  had  been  deeply 
impressed  by  the  opening  sentence  of  Lord  Bacon’s 
Novum  Organum.  These  are  the  words : 

“  Man,  the  minister  and  interpreter  of  nature,  does 
and  understands  so  much  as  he  may  have  discerned  con¬ 
cerning  the  order  of  nature  by  observing  or  by  medi¬ 
tating  on  facts :  he  knows  no  more,  he  can  do  no  more.” 

It  is  true  that  these  words  were  spoken  in  reference 
to  the  physical  sciences ;  but  I  confess  that  I  never  could 
understand  why  the  same  remark  does  not  apply  to  the 


2 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  ' 


investigation  of  all  truth,  physical  or  spiritual.  If  there 
is  truth  in  spiritual  philosophy,  there  must  be  facts  in 
existence  demonstrative  of  that  truth. 

I  hold  that  if  there  is  in  this  world  anything  that  it 
is  important  for  man  to  know,  he  can,  and  will,  event¬ 
ually  find  it  out  by  the  processes  of  induction,  —  that  is, 
by  reasoning  from  observable  facts  and  phenomena. 
There  are  many  facts  in  nature  which  man  is  curious  to 
know,  but  which  he  never  can  know.  But  it  will  gene¬ 
rally  be  found  that  they  are  facts  which  it  is  unimpor¬ 
tant  that  he  should  know.  For  instance,  it  might  gratify 
a  laudable  curiosity  to  learn  what  is  on  the  farther  side 
of  the  moon;  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  what 
benefit  humanity  could  derive  from  the  knowledge.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  man  has  a  soul,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  him  that  he  should  know  it ;  and  there 
are  facts  which  can  bear  no  other  rational  interpretation. 
It  is  of  some  of  these  that  I  purpose  now  to  speak. 

In  my  published  works  I  have  set  forth  many  facts 
which  seem  to  me  to  be  demonstrative,  not  only  that  man 
has  a _soul,  but  that  it  is  destined  to  a  future  life.  These, 
however,  are  mostly  psychical  phenomena,  which  I  do 
not  now  propose  to  consider,  except  incidentally.  Not 
that  I  distrust  their  validity,  for  a  psychic  fact  is  just 
as  much  a  fact  as  a  granite  mountain ;  but  as  it  is  quite 
fashionable  in  certain  highly  respectable  circles  to  deny 
the  existence  of  psychic  phenomena  altogether,  I  intend, 
on  this  occasion,  to  confine  myself  largely  to  the  uni¬ 
versally  admitted  facts  of  the  physical  sciences,  particu¬ 
larly  those  of  organic  evolution,  and  incidentally  those 
of  cerebral  anatomy  and  experimental  surgery. 

My  theme  is  Evolution  and  the  Dual  Mind,  or  the 
Genesis  of  the  Human  Soul.  These  two  topics  are 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  3 

inseparably  connected,  and  must,  therefore,  be  treated 
together. 

The  hypothesis  upon  which  I  base  all  my  conclusions 
is  embraced  in  two  fundamental  propositions,  the  first 
of  which  may  be  stated  as  follows : 

Man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mind. 

That  is  to  say,  in  the  sum  of  the  faculties,  capacities, 
powers,  and  limitations  of  the  mind  of  man,  there 
are  two  distinct  phases  of  activity,  or  states  of  con¬ 
sciousness,  each  characterized  by  phenomena  peculiar 
to  itself.  Stated  thus  conservatively,  the  proposition 
will  not  be  seriously  disputed  by  any  student  of  psy¬ 
chology  who  has  kept  pace  with  the  discoveries  of 
modern  science.  I  prefer,  however,  to  state  it,  pro- 
visionally,  thus : 

is  ci'idozved  witJx.tw.0  .minds. 

I  prefer  this  mode  of  stating  the  proposition  for  two 
reasons :  First,  because  it  appears  to  be  true.  That  is, 
everything  happens  just  as  if  it  were  true,  and  that  is 
all  any  student  pretends  to  expect  in  a  working  hypoth¬ 
esis.  Secondly,  I  prefer  it  because  it  admits  of  clearer 
treatment,  inasmuch  as  it  requires  less  of  roundabout 
phraseology  to  express  my  exact  meaning.  The  con¬ 
clusions  derivable  from  the  proposition  are,  however, 
precisely  the  same,  whichever  way  it  is  stated.  I 
adhere,  therefore,  to  my  usual  way  of  putting  it,  and 
state,  as  my  first  proposition,  that  man  is  endowed  with 
two  minds. 

Each  of  these  two  minds  is  capable  of  independent 
action,  and  they  are  also  capable  of  synchronous  action, 
^ut  in  the  main,  they  possess  independent  powers  and 
perform  independent  functions.  The  distinctive  facul¬ 
ties  of  one  pertain  wholly  to  this  life :  those  of  the  other 


4 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


are  specially  adapted  to  a  higher  plane  of  existence.  I 
distinguish  them  by  designating  one  as  the  Objective 
Mind,  and  the  other  as  the  Subjective  Mind. 

The  objective  mind  is  that  of  ordinary  waking  con¬ 
sciousness.  Its  media  of  cognition  are  the  five  physical 
senses.  Its  highest  function  is  that  of  reasoning.  It  is 
especially  adapted  to  cope  with  the  exigencies  of  physical 
environment.  It  is  the  function  of  the  brain;  and  the 
latter  is  the  ultimate  product  of  organic  evolution. 

The  subjective  mind  is  that  intelligence  which  is  most 
familiarly  manifested  to  us  when  the  brain  is  asleep,  or 
its  action  is  otherwise  inhibited,  as  in  dreams,  or  in 
spontaneous  or  induced  somnambulism;  or  in  trance 
or  trancoid  states  and  conditions,  as  in  hypnotism.  Any 
one  who  is  in  the  least  acquainted  with  the  phenomena 
resulting  from  any  one  of  these  mental  conditions  is 
aware  that  wonderful  exhibitions  of  intellectual  power 
often  result.  The  significant  feature  of  the  phenomena 
is  that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  intellectual  powers 
thus  displayed  bear  an  exact  proportion  to  the  depth  of 
the  trance  (to  use  a  generic  term),  or,  in  other  words, 
to  the  degree  in  which  the  action  of  the  brain  faculties 
is  inhibited. 

Thus  far  I  have  not  travelled  outside  the  range  of  the 
observation  and  experience  of  any  intelligent  person ; 
but  I  have  made  a  prima  facie  case  of  duality  of  mind. 
There  are  thousands  of  illustrations  that  amount  to 
demonstration  of  the  law,  which  must  be  omitted  for 
want  of  time,  but  which  will  be  readily  recognized  on 
reflection. 

The  second  proposition  of  my  hypothesis  is  this : 

The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to  control 
by  suggestion.  A  corollary  of  this  proposition  is  that 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


5 


the  subjective  mind  is  incapable  of  inductive  reasoning. 
The  meaning  of  this  is  that  the  subjective  mind  involun- 
tarily  accepts  as  veridical  the  ideas  or  statements  of  fact 
imparted  to  it.  These  statements  or  ideas  may  be  im¬ 
parted  by  the  oral  suggestions  of  another,  or  they  may 
arise  from  the  education  of  the  individual.  In  the  latter 
case  they  are  termed  auto-suggestions.  There  are  no 
exceptions  to  this  law,  although  there  are  some  ap¬ 
parent  exceptions.  It  will  invariably  be  found,  however, 
that  the  apparent  exceptions  are  the  clearest  possible 
illustrations  of  the  absolute  universality  of  the  law.  A 
crude  example  of  the  power  of  suggestion  is  witnessed 
when  a  hypnotist  declares  to  his  subject  that  he  is  an¬ 
other  person.  The  alacrity  with  which  the  subject  ac¬ 
cepts  the  suggestion,  and  the  fidelity  to  nature  with 
which  he  personates  the  character  suggested,  are  matters 
of  general  knowledge  and  observation. 

A  third  proposition  which  must  be  stated  in  this  con¬ 
nection  is  this : 

The  subjective  mind  possesses  the  power  of  trans¬ 
mitting  intelligence  to  other  subjective  minds  otherwise 
than  through  the  ordinary  sensory  channels.  In  other 
words,  it  possesses  the  faculty  of  telepathy. 

I  trust  that  no  one  will  be  startled  out  of  his  sense  of 
propriety  when  I  remark  that  the  world  owes  much 
of  the  valuable  knowledge  it  possesses  of  the  subject  of 
psychology  to  that  much  maligned  practice,  that  bete 
noir  of  ignorance,  hysteria,  and  malignant  imbecility, 
known  as  hypnotism.  It  is  to  hypnotism  that  we  are 
primarily  indebted  for  the  verification  of  the  law  of 
duality  of  mind ;  although  a  vague  and  speculative  idea 
of  that  law  has  been  floating  loosely  in  the  minds  of 
various  philosophers  for  more  than  two  thousand  years. 


6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


It  is  known  to  everybody  that  when  a  subject  is 
completely  hypnotized  his  brain  is  asleep,  —  that  all  the 
phenomena  of  natural  sleep  are  present,  including  the 
inhibition  of  the  senses  and  a  more  or  less  complete 
retirement  of  the  blood  from  its  channels  in  the  brain, 
j  It  is  also  well  known  that  in  this  state  the  subject  will 
I  often  exhibit  a  preternatural  intelligence,  far  transcend- 
I  ing  his  normal  powers.  This  intelligence  is  that  of  the 
I  subjective  mind,  of  which  the  brain  is  not  the  organ, 
the  action  of  the  brain  being  at  the  time  inhibited. 

Telepathy  was  demonstrated  to  be  a  faculty  of  the 
human  mind  by  the  immediate  successors  of  Mesmer. 
Owing,  however,  to  the  determined  stand  taken  against 
mesmerism  by  physicians,  who  were  frenzied  because 
it  had  been  demonstrated  to  be  a  valuable  therapeutic 
agent,  telepathy  was  ignored  by  the  scientific  world  until 
the  London  Society  for  Psychical  Research  made  it 
respectable  to  believe  in  it.  Their  demonstrations  were 
made  largely  by  means  of  hypnotism.  I  may  perhaps 
be  pardoned  for  remarking  that  I  was  the  first  to  point 
out  the  fact  that  the  power  of  telepathy  belongs  ex¬ 
clusively  to  the  subjective  mind. 

The  law  of  suggestion  was  also  discovered  by  means 
of  experimental  hypnotism.  In  fact,  it  was  supposed 
to  be  applicable  only  to  persons  in  a  state  of  induced 
hypnosis  until,  in  my  first  published  work,  I  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  universal  law  of  the 
subjective  mind.  I  then  made  a  generalization  of  the 
subject  matter  by  formulating  the  proposition  that 
the  subjective  mind  is  incapable  of  inductive  reasoning. 

I  now  invite  your  attention  to  a  table,  —  the  result  of 
many  years  of  study  of  this  subject.  It  classifies  the 
faculties  of  the  two  minds  in  strict  accordance  with  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


7 


facts  of  experimental  psychology  as  developed  by  thirty 
years  of  my  own  experimentation,  and  of  that  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  beginning  in  1882. 


Objective  Mind. 

1. 

2. 

3.  Inductive  Reasoning. 

4.  Imperfect  Deductive  Reasoning. 

5.  Imperfect  Power  of  Recollection. 

6.  Brain  Memories  of  Emotional 

Experiences. 

7- 

8. 


Subjective  Mind. 

1.  Instinct  or  Intuition. 

2.  Controlled  by  Suggestion. 

3- 

4.  Perfect  Deductive  Reasoning. 

5.  Perfect  Memory. 

6.  The  Seat  of  the  Emotions. 

7.  Telepathic  Powers. 

8.  Kinetic  Energy. 


In  undertaking  an  analysis  of  the  faculties  of  the 
two  minds,  one  broad  and  pregnant  fact  stands  forth 
in  bold  relief  and  strikes  one  wdth  the  force  of  a  reve¬ 
lation,  and  that  is  that  the  only  faculty  which  belongs 
exclusively  to  the  objective  mind  is  that  of  inductive 
reasoning. 

The  other  objective  faculties  set  down  in  the  list, 
namely,  the  power  of  deductive  reasoning  and  of  mem¬ 
ory,  are  the  necessary  concomitants  of  induction.  The 
obvious  explanation  is  that  inductive  reasoning  pre¬ 
supposes  facts  to  reason  from  ;  and  memory  is  the  store¬ 
house  of  facts.  Moreover,  the  power  of  deduction  is 
obviously  a  necessary  part  of  inductive  reasoning. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  faculties,  the  concomi¬ 
tants  of  induction,  are  shared  by  the  subjective  mind; 
the  only  difference  being  one  of  degree.  That  is  to  say, 
they  are  perfect  and  inherent  in  the  subjective  mind, 
whereas,  in  the  objective  mind  they  are  exceedingly 
imperfect,  and  depend  for  their  degree  of  development 
upon  laborious  cultivation. 

Other  faculties  belonging  primarily  to  the  subjective 


8 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


mind  are  represented  in  the  brain ;  as,  for  example,  the 
emotions.  We  are  told  that  every  faculty,  every  emotion, 
has  its  special  compartment  in  the  brain  structure.  This 
may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  true.'  Whether  each  compart¬ 
ment  has  been  correctly  located,  is  another  question. 
However  that  may  be,  our  emotional  experiences  are 
registered  in  the  brain.  That  is,  each  objectively  con¬ 
scious  experience  creates  new  brain  cells,  which  in  the 
aggregate  constitute  the  brain  memories  of  our  experi¬ 
ences.  But  they  are  only  memories.  They  are  facts  for 
the  use  of  our  inductive  powers.  They  complete  the 
mental  organism  of  the  brain.  The  seat  of  the  emotional 
faculties  is,  nevertheless,  in  the  subjective  mind. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  aggregate  of  the  faculties 
of  the  objective  miind  constitute  pure  intellect.  They 
are  the  faculties  of  reason  and  judgment.  They  form 
the  judicial  tribunal  of  the  dual  mind.  When  properly 
cultivated  and  developed,  they  sit  in  judgment  upon 
every  act  of  our  lives ;  they  regulate  every  emotion ; 
they  restrain  every  passion  and  direct  it  into  legitimate 
channels.  In  short,  reason  is  at  once  the  tenure  by 
which  man  holds  his  free  moral  agency,  and  the  power 
which  enables  him  to  train  his  soul  for  weal  or  woe  in 
this  world  and  the  world  to  come. 

Referring  now  to  the  faculties  of  the  subjective  mind, 
I  will  premise  by  saying  that  it  is  impossible  to  make 
a  complete  analysis  of  them  without  being  compelled  to 
consider  them  with  reference  to  a  future  life.  The 
reason  is  that  many  of  them  are  wholly  useless  in  this 
life.  Others  perform  limited  functions  in  this  life,  but 
each  and  all  are  perfectly  adapted  to  the  uses  of  the  dis- 
carnate  soul. 

The  limitations  of  power  in  the  subjective  mind  con- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


9 


sist  in  the  fact  that  as  long  as  the  soul  inhabits  the  body, 
it  is  normally  amenable  to  control  by  suggestion.  That 
is  to  say,  it  accepts  as  veridical  every  suggestion  im¬ 
parted  to  it.  This  apparent  deficiency  is  to  a  great 
extent  supplied  in  this  life,  and  wholly  in  the  future  life, 
by  the  faculty  of  intuitive  apprehension  of  essential 
truth. 

I  have  now  laid  down  a  provisional  foundation  for 
the  argument  which  is  to  follow.  I  am  sensible  that 
the  proofs  are  thus  far  meagre  and  unsatisfactory  from 
a  scientific  point  of  view,  but  I  hope  to  be  able  to  remove 
that  objection  before  I  conclude. 

I  shall  first  consider  the  subject  from  the  evolutionary 
view-point.  I  do  so  for  four  good  and  sufficient  reasons, 
namely : 

First,  because  the  known  facts  of  evolution  are  demon¬ 
strative  of  duality  of  mind. 

Secondly,  because  they  are  demonstrative  that  the 
brain  is  not  the  sole  organ  of  the  subjective  mind. 

Thirdly,  because  they  show  that  in  the  lowest  order 
of  animal  life  is  found  the  promise  and  potency  of  a 
human  soul. 

And  fourthly,  because  the  same  facts  reveal  the  Living 
God,  and  demonstrate  the  divine  pedigree  of  man. 

In  dealing  with  these  propositions  I  must  take  for 
granted  what  science  so  clearly  shows,  that  man  is  the 
product  —  the  highest  possible  product  —  of  organic 
evolution.  That  is,  by  a  series  of  progressive  changes, 
man  was  evolved  from  the  lower  orders  of  animal  life. 

I  shall  undertake  to  show  that,  in  the  history  of  or¬ 
ganic  and  mental  evolution  in  this  world,  the  subjective 
mind  antedates  the  objective  mind  by  untold  millions  of 


10 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


years;  that  the  highest  manifestation  of  intellectual 
power  in  mankind  finds  its  embryotic  prototype  in  the 
mental  powers  of  the  lower  animals ;  that,  as  the  physi¬ 
cal  man  descended  in  a  direct  line  from  the  primordial 
germ,  so  do  we  find  therein  the  promise  of  a  human 
soul,  with  all  its  God-like  attributes  and  potentialities. 

In  undertaking  this  task  I  shall  not  tax  your  credulity 
by  propounding  unsupported  dogmas  or  undemonstrable 
propositions.  I  purpose  to  deal  with  the  simplest  of  the 
well  known  facts  of  organic  and  mental  evolution.  The 
only  thing  that  I  shall  take  for  granted  is  that  every  in¬ 
telligent  person  present  accepts  the  fundamental  doctrine 
of  evolution.  There  are  two  theories  to  choose  from; 

One  is  that  the  Great  First  Cause  is  an  infinite  intelli¬ 
gence,  and  as  such  is  capable  of  impressing  the  universe 
of  matter  with  such  laws  as  result  in  the  creation  of 
worlds  and  of  men  by  a  process  of  gradual,  progressive 
development  or  evolution. 

The  other  theory  is  that  God  is  a  being  of  somewhat 
limited  intelligence,  and  is,  consequently,  compelled  to 
supplement  his  work  from  time  to  time,  by  special 
creations  to  supply  deficiencies  or  meet  unexpected 
emergencies. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  most  of  us  are  capable  of 
entertaining  the  grander,  nobler  conception  of  the  Deity 
and  his  attributes  embraced  in  the  theory  of  evolution. 
I  shall  not,  therefore,  weary  your  patience  with  a  long 
dissertation  on  the  subject  of  evolution.  It  must  suffice 
to  say  that  the  accepted  theory  is  that  man  is  descended 
from  the  lower  animals  by  a  line  so  direct  and  obvious 
that  the  scientific  investigator  is  compelled  to  yield  in¬ 
stant  assent  to  the  doctrine.  Happily,  the  time  is  past 
^vhen  belief  in  evolution  subjected  one  to  the  charge  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


II 


religious  skepticism,  of  materi^alism,  or  of  atheism.  En¬ 
lightened  people  are  no  longer  frightened  at  the  progress 
of  science,  or  regard  it  as  the  enemy  of  religion,  or  fear 
that  a  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of 
evolution  will  annihilate  God  or  subvert  the  teachings 
of  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  In  point  of  fact,  the  study  of 
purely  organic  evolution,  whilst  it  gives  a  higher  con¬ 
ception  of  the  powers  and  attributes  of  the  Great  First 
Cause,  neither  proves  nor  disproves  any  of  the  essential 
doctrines  of  Christianity. 

It  begins  with  the  primordial  germ  and  ends  with 
man ;  but  it  can  neither  prove  nor  disprove  the  doctrine 
of  spontaneous  generation  of  life  in  the  germ,  nor  can 
it  either  prove  or  disprove  the  doctrine  of  the  immor¬ 
tality  of  man.  It  traces  his  pedigree  from  a  microscopic, 
unicellular  organism  up  through  a  thousand  gradients 
to  the  grand  culmination  of  physical  perfection ;  and 
it  has  demonstrated  that  he  is  the  highest  possible 
product  of  organic  evolution ;  but  it  pauses,  helpless 
and  impotent,  before  the  grander  problem,  —  that  more 
momentous  question, — “  Is  this  all  there  is  of  evolution? 
Is  there  nothing  in  your  science  to  inspire  a  hope  that 
in  some  higher  realm  evolution  may  still  carry  us  for¬ 
ward  to  a  grander  and  nobler  destiny  ?  ” 

Thus  far  the  study  of  organic  evolution  has  failed  to 
throw  more  than  a  faint  sidelight  upon  the  problem. 
The  manifest  reason  is  that  its  students  have  confined 
their  attention  to  the  physical  aspect  of  the  question, 
leaving  the  mental  and  spiritual  sides  unexplored.  Even 
those  who  have  sought  to  link  the  problems  of  the  soul 
with  the  facts  of  organic  evolution  have  generally  begun 
at  the  wrong  end  of  the  subject  and  lost  their  bearings 
in  a  maze  of  metaphysical  speculation. 


t2  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

It  will  eventually  be  found  that  it  is  in  the  study  of 
the  evolution  of  the  mind,  beginning  where  animal  life 
begins,  that  we  come  into  contact  with  the  facts  which 
not  only  reveal  the  Living  God,  but  proclaim  the  divine 
pedigree  of  man.  It  is  there  that  the  facts  may  be 
found,  which  demonstrate  the  existence  of  a  soul  in 
man;  which  reveal  its  genesis,  and  by  which  can  be 
traced  its  rise,  progress,  and  development  from  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  organic  life  on  this  planet  up  to  its  perfection 
in  man  as  a  self-existent  entity. 

Let  us  begin,  then,  with  the  lowest  form  of  animal 
life  —  the  protozoa.  These  exist  in  vast  numbers  and 
in  considerable  variety.  They  are  unicellular  organisms, 
microscopic  in  size,  and  are  composed  of  protoplasm. 
The  latter  term  is  applied  to  a  viscid,  contractile,  semi¬ 
liquid,  more  or  less  granular  substance,  which  forms  the 
principal  portion  of  an  animal  cell.  It  is,  according  to 
Huxley,  “  the  physical  basis  of  life.”  To  be  more  exact, 
it  should  be  said  that  it  is  the  basis  of  the  material 
medium  through  which  life  manifests  itself. 

Of  the  protozoa  there  is  one  group  called  the  Monera. 
These,  according  to  Haeckel,  appear  to  be  the  lowest 
of  the  protozoa,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  without 
nuclei,  and  hence,  without  visible  organs. 

To  use  the  language  of  Haeckel: 

“The  Monera  are  the  simplest  of  permanent  cytods.  Their 
entire  body  consists  merely  of  soft,  structureless  plasson.  How¬ 
ever  thoroughly  we  examine  them  with  the  most  delicate  chemi¬ 
cal  reagents  and  the  strongest  optical  instruments,  we  find  that 
all  the  parts  are  competlely  homogeneous.  The  Monera  are, 
therefore,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  ‘organisms  without 
organs  ’ ;  or  even  in  a  strictly  philosophical  sense,  they  might  not 
even  be  called  ‘  organisms,’  since  they  possess  no  organs,  since 
they  are  not  composed  o  various  particles.  They  can  only  be 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


13 


called  organisms  in  so  far  as  they  are  capable  of  exercising  the 
organic  phenomena  of  life,  of  nutrition,  reproduction,  sensation, 
and  movement.  If  we  tried  to  construct,  a  priori,  the  simplest 
conceivable  organism,  we  should  always  be  compelled  to  fall 
back  upon  such  a  Moneron.” 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  very  lowest  form  of  animal 
life,  —  “  an  organism  without  organs,”  a  simple  mass  of 
plasson,  minus  even  the  nucleus  which  belongs  to  the 
true  cell;  and,  therefore,  absolutely  without  a  physical 
organization.  And  yet  it  is  endowed  with  a  mind  — 
a  conscious  intelligence.  In  view  of  the  function  it  per¬ 
forms,  this  is  necessarily  true.  Any  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends  is  perforce  the  result  of  a  mental  process. 
A  living  creature  is  a  mind  organism ;  for  it  is  mind, 
and  mind  alone,  that  distinguishes  the  animate  from 
the  inanimate.  A  cell  is  a  living  creature :  therefore, 
the  cell  possesses  a  mind. 

This,  quoting  largely  from  memory,  is  the  reasoning 
of  Professor  Gates,  of  Washington,  who  has  for  the 
last  twenty  years  given  more  intelligent  study  to  the 
subject  of  cellular  psychology  than  has  any  other  man 
living. 

In  an  article  in  the  Therapist,  for  December,  1895, 
he  says : 

“Unicellular  organisms  possess  all  the  different  forms  of 
activity  to  be  found  in  the  higher  animals.  Thus,  the  simplest 
cell  can  transform  food  into  tissue  and  other  metabolic  products, 
and  this  is  the  basis  of  all  the  nutritive  activities  and  processes 
of  the  higher  animals;  the  cell  can  move  parts  of  itself  and  is 
capable  of  locomotion,  and  this  is  the  basis  of  all  movement  in 
the  higher  animals  brought  about  by  bone  and  muscles;  the  cell 
can  feel  a  stimulus  and  respond,  and  this  is  the  basis  of  the  sen¬ 
sory  faculties  of  the  higher  animals :  the  cell  can  reproduce  itself 
by  segmentation,  and  this  is  the  basis  of  reproduction  in  the 
higher  animals ;  the  cell  on  dividing  inherits  the  actual  qualities 


14 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


of  its  parent  mass,  and  this  is  the  basis  of  heredity ;  in  short, 
the  cell  contains  in  simplest  form  all  of  the  activities  to  be  found 
in  man.” 

Before  taking  leave  of  Professor  Gates,  I  desire  to 
remark  that  he  has  demonstrated  by  a  series  of  experi¬ 
ments  that  die  cell  has  a  capacity  to  acquire  knowledge ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  can  be  educated.  I  have  no  time,  how¬ 
ever,  to  dwell  upon  that  branch  of  the  subject.  It  is 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  know  that  the  uni¬ 
cellular  organism,  of  the  lowest  order,  is  endowed  with 
a  mind. 

What  is  this  intelligence  which  so  unerringly  adapts 
means  to  ends  and  enables  the  creature  to  perform  all 
those  acts  which  are  preservative  of  its  life  and  of  its 
species?  The  ready  reply  is,  “  Instinct.”  True,  we  have 
a  name  for  it  that  is  in  the  mouth  of  every  schoolboy. 
But  names  do  not  explain  anything.  What  is  instinct? 
Before  defining  it  in  set  phrase,  I  must  remark  that 
I  instinct  in  the  lower  animals  and  injtuition  in  man  are 
:  identical,  the  latter  being  merely  a  higher  and  more 
complex  development  of  the  form^.  I  define  it  as 
follows : 

Instinct,  or  intuition,  is  the  power  possessed  by  each 
sentient  being,  in  proportion  to  its  development  and  in 
harmony  with  its  environment,  to  perceive  or  apprehend, 
antecedently  to  and  independently  of  reason  or  instruc¬ 
tion,  those  laws  of  nature  which  pertain  to  the  well¬ 
being  of  the  individual  and  of  the  species  to  which  it 
belongs. 

Like  every  other  faculty,  organ,  or  agency  in  na¬ 
ture  or  in  human  affairs,  it  had  a  simple  beginning. 
Like  everything  else  of  value  to  mankind,  it  has  devel¬ 
oped  by  a  series  of  progressive  steps  to  a  state  of  won- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


15 


derful  complexity.  It  has  kept  pace  with  the  physical 
development  of  animal  life  and  with  the  mental  devel¬ 
opment  of  humanity,  until  now  it  is  the  most  wonderful 
faculty  known  to  man ;  it  is  the  most  potential  force 
below  that  of  omnipotence ;  it  is  the  most  gigantic  intel¬ 
lectual  attribute  below  that  of  omniscience ;  it  is  the 
subjective  mind  of  man;  it  is  the  mental  organism  of 
the  immortal  human  soul. 

Let  no  one  be  frightened  at  the  prospect  of  being 
compelled  to  find_tlie  genesis  of  his  soul  in  such  simple 
beginnings.  When  the  theory  of  organic  evolution  was 
first  promulgated,  many  sensitive  persons  revolted  at 
the  idea  of  tracing  their  physical  pedigree  back  through 
a  simian  ancestry  to  a  microscopic  mass  of  protoplasm ; 
but  facts  are  th^wprds  of  God ;  and  the  pedigree  of  the 
physical  man  is  too  plainly  written  in  his  organism  to  be 
misinterpreted  by  Reason. 

But  no  one  has  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  the  origin  of 
his  soul,  for  its  first  manifestation  of  intelligence  in 
the  protoplasmic  cell  was  essentially  divine.  In  other 
words,  it  exhibited  the  essential  attribute  of  omniscience, 
differing  only  in  degree.  The  mental  power  that  enables 
the  moneron  to  perceive  or  apprehend  the  laws  of  its 
being  is  a  power  antecedent  to  and  independent  of 
reason,  experience,  or  instruction ;  and,  I  submit,  no 
other  terms  are  required  to  define  the  essential  attribute 
of  omniscience. 

The  profound  significance  of  this  one  fact  cannot  be 
overestimated.  Standing  on  the  very  threshold  of  sen¬ 
tient  life.  Science  beholds  indubitable  evidence  of  an 
antecedent,  omniscient  intelligence ;  and,  in  the  pri¬ 
mordial  germ,  the  embryo  of  physical  man  and  the 
promise  and  potency  of  an  immortal  soul,  endowed  with 
God-like  attributes  and  powers. 


1 6  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

Step  by  step  this  intelligence  expanded  and  became 
more  and  more  complex  as  animal  life  rose  in  the  scale 
of  being  and  increased  in  mental  and  physical  com¬ 
plexity,  until  man  appeared  —  the  crowning  glory  of 
sentient  life,  the  ultimate  product  of  organic  evolution. 
Nor  did  the  process  stop  here.  It  is  still  going  forward, 
reaching  into  higher  and  higher  realms  as  man  ap¬ 
proaches  the  higher  civilization. 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  instinct  by 
Darwin,  Spencer,  Huxley,  Romanes,  and  a  host  of  lesser 
lights.  Many  facts  have  thus  been  accumulated;  but 
it  seems  to  me  that  no  adequate  generalization  has  yet 
been  made,  nor  have  the  phenomena  been  correlated 
with  cognate  phenomena  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  us 
a  true  conception  of  the  far-reaching  significance  and 
importance  of  the  faculty. 

There  are  many  and  variant  definitions  of  the  word 
“  instinct  ”  ;  but  none  of  them  seems  to  me  to  describe  the 
full  scope  and  province  of  the  faculty.  All  authorities 
agree,  however,  that  it  is  antecedent  to  reason,  and  yet 
that  it  impels  to  just  such  acts  as  reason  would  approve ; 
that  its  sphere  of  usefulness  among  the  lower  animals 
is  to  preserve  the  life  of  the  individual  and  to  perpetuate 
the  species  to  which  it  belongs. 

Is  this  all  there  is  of  instinct?  Is  that  faculty  con¬ 
fined,  in  its  sphere  of  operations,  to  the  preservation  of 
physical  life?  I  think  not. 

It  is  within  the  knowledge  of  every  one  that  instincts 
can  be  cultivated  and  their  scope  enlarged.  Every  step 
from  the  lower  animals  upward  is  marked  by  a  corres¬ 
ponding  enlargement  and  a  constantly  increasing  com¬ 
plexity  of  the  instinctive  faculty.  Heredity  plays  an 
important  role  in  this  development ;  and  up  to  the  time 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


17 


when  the  brain  appeared  as  a  factor  in  organic  evolu¬ 
tion,  heredity  was  doubtless  the  prime  factor.  When  the 
brain  appeared,  however,  instinct  did  not  cease  its  func¬ 
tions.  On  the  contrary,  it  developed  the  more  rapidly, 
and  the  more  rapidly  enlarged  its  sphere  of  activity  and 
usefulness. 

In  fact,  the  brain  seems  to  have  been  evolved  in  re¬ 
sponse  to  the  necessities  of  animal  existence  in  the 
“great  struggle  for  life”  then  going  on,  just  as  other 
weapons  of  ofifence  and  defence  were  evolved.  When  it 
appeared,  it  immediately  became  the  educator  of  the 
subjective  mind,  which  is  the  mind  of  instinct  or  intu¬ 
ition,  and  which,  under  the  law  of  suggestion  and  by 
means  of  its  perfect  memory,  accepts,  assimilates,  and 
retains  whatever  is  imparted  to  it  by  the  objective  mind. 
The  subjective  thus  becomes  a  vast  storehouse  of  mem¬ 
ories,  habits,  and  principles,  good  or  bad,  that  flow  into 
it  through  the  education  of  the  objective  mind.  Hence  it 
is  that  when  the  subjective  faculties  are  roused  into 
activity,  they  pour  forth  their  accumulated  store  of 
knowledge,  often  displaying  unsuspected  ability  and 
learning. 

I  am  aware  that  it  has  been  held  that  as  intelligence 
increases,  instincts  decrease  in  number  and  complexity. 
Cuvier,  for  instance,  maintained  that  instinct  and  intelli¬ 
gence  stand  in  inverse  ratio  to  each  other.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  has  been  shown  by  Pouchet  that  those  insects 
with  the  most  wonderful  instincts  are  certainly  the  most 
intelligent.  In  the  vertebrate  series  the  least  intelligent 
members  —  the  Ashes  and  amphibians  —  do  not  possess 
complex  instincts.  And,  acording  to  Morgan,  the 
mammal  most  remarkable  for  that  faculty,  namely,  the 
beaver,  is  highly  intelligent.  In  point  of  fact,  the  exact 


2 


1 8  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

opposite  of  Cuvier’s  dogma  is  demonstrably  the  truth; 

I  and  when  we  come  to  include  man  in  the  category  of 
I  animals  possessing  the  faculty  of  instinct,  it  will  be 
I  obvious  that  intelligence  and  instinct  stand  in  direct 
ratio  to  each  other  in  all  the  broad  realm  of  sentient  life. 

Darwin  made  a  partial  statement  of  a  great  truth 
j  when  he  said :  “  Some  intelligent  actions,  after  being 
performed  during  several  generations,  become  converted 
into  instincts  and  are  inherited.”  (See  Desceni  of  Man, 
p.  67.) 

If  he  had  said  that  “  all  intelligent  actions,  whether  of 
animals  or  of  men,  which  are  promotive  of  the  well-being 
of  the  individual  or  of  the  race,  physically,  mentally, 
morally,  or  religiously,  after  being  performed  during 
several  generations,  become  converted  into  instincts  and 
are  inherited,”  he  would  have  made  a  more  complete 
statement  of  the  principle,  and  would  have  defined  the 
higher  limitations  of  the  faculty  of  instinct  as  developed 
in  this  world. 

Among  the  lower  animals,  instincts  are  comparatively 
fixed  and  stable  in  their  operation  from  generation  to 
generation.  But  as  animals  rise  in  the  scale  of  intelli¬ 
gence,  their  instincts  are  modified  from  time  to  time  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  changing  environment.  Some 
are  wholly  lost  when  there  no  longer  exists  a  necessity 
for  their  exercise.  Others  are  radically  changed,  and 
innumerable  new  ones  are  acquired.  Romanes,  in  his 
great  work.  Mental  Evolution  in  Animals,  cites  nu¬ 
merous  examples  illustrative  of  these  propositions. 

As  before  remarked,  man  forms  no  exception  to  these 
rules.  The  acquisition  of  a  brain  by  the  lower  animals 
did  not  destroy  the  mind  previously  existent :  on  the 
contrary,  it  only  served  to  give  it  greater  scope,  com- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


19 


plexity,  and  power.  Neither  did  the  wonderful  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  brain  in  man  destroy  that  mind  through 
which  instinct  had  manifested  itself  from  the  moneron 
upward.  It  only  served  to  modify  the  old  instincts, 
eliminate  those  which  were  no  longer  useful,  and  add 
new  ones  suitable  to  the  environment  and  the  stage  of 
intellectual  and  moral  development. 

In  man,  instinct  is  no  longer  confined  to  mere  physical 
self-preservation.  It  reaches  up  into  the  intellectual 
realm  —  into  the  domain  of  sociology,  morality,  reli¬ 
gion,  conscience  —  into  all  the  higher  activities  which 
distinguish  man  from  the  brute  creation.  All  the  acts 
resultant  from  these  higher  activities  of  the  mind,  in  the 
language  of  Darwin,  “  after  being  performed  during 
several  generations  become  converted  into  instincts  and 
are  inherited.” 

In  the  meantime,  the  general  function  of  instinct  is 
the  same  in  man  as  it  is  in  the  lower  animals. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood  on  this  point.  What 
I  desire  to  be  understood  as  saying  is  this ;  that  all  im¬ 
pulses,  desires,  or  emotions  which  are  promotive  of  the 
well-being  of  the  individual  or  of  the  species  to  which 
he  belongs,  appertain  to  the  domain  of  instinct  or  intu¬ 
ition.  And  this  is  true  whether  they  are  manifested  in 
the  lower  animals  in  the  impulses  of  self-preservation 
and  reproduction,  or  in  the  noblest  acts  of  man  when 
they  are  promotive  of  the  general  welfare  of  humanity, 
physically,  mentally,  morally,  or  spiritually. 

Moreover,  the  memory  of  the  subjective  mind  being 
perfect,  all  the  experiences  of  the  individual,  all  the 
learning  which  he  may  have  acquired,  however  super¬ 
ficially  it  may  have  been  impressed  upon  the  brain,  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  grand  sum-total  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  equipment  of  his  soul. 


20 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Unperverted  instincts  are  always  promotive  of  the 
highest  interests  of  the  individual  and  of  the  general 
welfare  of  the  race.  But  it  will  be  readily  understood 
that  even  the  higher  instincts,  in  common  with  the  lower, 
may  be  perverted  by  a  wrong  education  or  pernicious 
environment.  A  perversion  of  the  instinct  of  religious 
worship  has  drenched  the  earth  with  blood.  A  perver¬ 
sion  of  conscience  lighted  the  fires  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  still  peoples  the  earth  with  cranks,  who  would  re¬ 
light  those  fires  if  they  had  the  power. 

Thus  far  I  have  confined  my  remarks  to  those  in¬ 
stincts  which  pertain  to  the  well-being  of  the  race,  and 
which  may  be  classed  under  the  generic  title  of  the 
“  instinct  of  self-preservation,”  although  they  include 
the  broadest  altruism  in  their  ultimate  development  and 
application.  It  is,  however,  with  the  higher  intuitional 
powers  that  we  are  most  concerned  for  the  purposes 
of  this  argument.  I  have  said  that  Jnstinct  and  in¬ 
tuition  are  identical.  They  differ  only  in  degree  and 
sphere  of  activity,  and  even  in  these  they  merge  by 
imperceptible  gradations.  They  are  both  concerned 
with  general  laws  and  essential  truth.  They  both  per¬ 
tain  to  the  welfare  of  the  individual  and  his  species. 
But  intuition  is  concerned  with  the  welfare  of  the  soul 
in  the  future  life  as  well  as  with  that  of  the  body  in 
this  life. 

I  now  approach  another  class  of  instincts  or  intuitions 
of  a  more  purely  intellectual  character.  I  provisionally 
classify  them  separately  for  the  reason  that  they  do  not, 
save  in  a  very  indirect  way,  contribute  to  the  preserva¬ 
tion  of  life  or  of  the  race.  It  is,  nevertheless,  but  a 
higher  development  of  the  same  faculty,  and  it  is  gen¬ 
erally  denominated  “  intuition.” 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


21 


I  refer  to  that  power  or  faculty  in  man  which  enables 
him,-  under  certain  conditions,  not  yet  clearly  under¬ 
stood,  to  perceive  or  apprehend  certain  fixed  laws  of 
nature  by  intuition  —  that  is,  antecedently  to  reason 
and  independently  of  objective  education.  It  is  a  faculty 
rarely  developed,  and  only  appears  under  abnormal,  or 
at  least  exceptional,  conditions.  A  sufficient  number  of 
cases,  however,  have  come  to  light  to  enable  us  to  be 
certain  that  the  faculty  exists,  and  to  lead  inferentially 
to  some  very  broad  generalizations. 

The  instances  of  its  development  which  are  most 
familiar  to  the  general  public  are  in  mathematical  and 
musical  prodigies,  of  whom  Zerah  Colburn  and  Blind 
Tom  are,  respectively,  representatives.  Colburn  could 
solve  the  most  intricate  arithmetical  problems  instan¬ 
taneously  when  he  was  a  mere  child  and  before  he  had 
been  taught  the  powers  of  the  nine  digits ;  thus  demon¬ 
strating  the  fact  that  he  possessed  the  intuitive  power  of 
perception  of  the  law  of  numbers. 

Blind  Tom  was  an  idiot,  and  hence  was  incapable  of 
receiving  an  education,  and  of  reasoning  in  the  objective 
sense  of  the  term ;  and  yet,  when  a  child,  and  absolutely 
without  instruction  of  any  kind,  or  the  brain  capacity  to 
receive  instruction,  he  was  able  to  improvise  the  most 
delightful  and  harmonious  strains  of  music  on  the  piano. 

From  this  case  alone  two  very  important  conclusions 
are  to  be  derived : 

Fir?t,  it  is  demonstrative  that  Blind  Tom  possessed  an 
intuitive  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  harmony  of  sounds ; 
for  he  had  no  education,  musical  or  other;  nor  was  he 
capable  of  receiving  an  education  depending  upon  a 
brain  structure,  for  he  was  a  microcephalus  —  an  idiot. 

Secondly,  it  is  demonstrative  that  the  brain  is  not  the 


22 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


organ  of  the  subjective  mind;  for  all  real  music  has  its 
origin  in  the  soul. 

On  this  latter  point  I  particularly  desire  to  make  my¬ 
self  clearly  understood.  I  have  assumed  that  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  of  man  is  directly  descended  from  that 
mind  which  is  found  in  the  lowest  order  of  animal  life, 
differing  only  in  its  degree  or  stage  of  development; 
that  it  existed  millions  of  years  before  a  brain  was  de¬ 
veloped;  and  that,  consequently,  the  brain  never  was 
its  organ  and  is  not  its  organ  now.  Startling  as  this 
hypothesis  may  be  to  materialistic  scientists,  it  is,  never¬ 
theless,  demonstrably  true,  as  I  shall  proceed  to  show. 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  a  priori  reason  why  it  should  not 
be  true.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  require  a  violent 
stretch  of  the  imagination  to  conceive  the  idea  that  an 
organized  intelligence  once  existent  could  be  destroyed 
by  progressive  development.  Moreover,  it  would  re¬ 
quire  very  strong  affirmative  evidence  to  convince  a 
reasonable  being  that  an  intelligence  once  located  in  a 
physical  structure  could  change  its  organ  of  manifesta¬ 
tion.  Since  we  know,  therefore,  that  the  subjective 
mind  once  existed  independently  of  a  brain,  we  must 
suppose  that  it  continues  to  do  so,  at  least  until  the  con¬ 
trary  is  demonstrated. 

I  say  we  know  that  it  once  existed  independently  of 
a  brain  structure.  That  is,  we  know  that  the  instinctive 
mind  of  the  lower  animals  is  identical  with  the  subjec¬ 
tive  mind  of  man ;  for  the  reason  that  the  faculties  are 
the  same  in  both.  A  glance  at  the  list  will  make  this 
proposition  clear. 

The  first  is  intuition,  which  is  identical  with  instinct 
in  animals.  The  second  is  deduction,  which  is  a  con¬ 
comitant  of  instinct  or  intuition.  Inerrant  deduction  is 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


23 


the  instinctive  logic  of  the  subjective  mind;  and  this  is 
as  true  of  the  lower  animals  as  it  is  of  men.  Next  come 
the  emotions,  which  are  obviously  the  same  in  men  and 
animals,  being  differentiated  only  by  the  restraining 
powers  of  reason  and  conscience.  The  next  on  the  list 
is  telepathy.  There  are  many  who  hold  that  telepathy  is 
largely  employed  by  the  lower  animals  to  supply  their 
deficiencies  in  oral  means  of  communication.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  know  whether  this  is  true  or  not,  never 
having  investigated  that  subject  with  sufficient  thor¬ 
oughness  to  enable  me  to  venture  an  opinion.  However 
this  may  be,  the  faculty  of  telepathy  clearly  belongs  to 
the  subjective  mind  of  man,  and,  like  many  other  facul- 
ties  of  that  mind,  it  contains  the  promise  and  potency  of 
powers  indispensable  to  the  discarnate  soul. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  in  this  connection  that 
the  limitations  entailed  by  the  law  of  suggestion  are  pre¬ 
cisely  the  same  in  animals  as  in  men.  Were  this  not 
true,  man  could  never  have  obtained  dominion  over 
animals  stronger  than  himself.  In  other  words,  but  for 
that  law  man  could  never  tame  a  tiger  or  harness  a 
horse. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  all  a  priori  reasons  sustain  the 
proposition  that  the  brain  is  not  the  organ  of  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind. 

Fortunately,  however,  the  materialistic  scientists 
themselves  have  unwittingly  demonstrated  this  fact  by 
the  use  of  the  scalpel.  The  scalpel,  you  know,  is  their 
favorite  instrument  of  search  for  the  human  soul.  They 
have  cut  and  carved,  weighed  and  measured  and  chemi¬ 
cally  analyzed  the  brains  of  men  living  and  dead ;  and 
because  they  have  failed  to  corral  a  soul  by  those  means, 
they  have  dogmatically  declared  that  man  has  no  soul. 


24  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

But,  as  I  said,  they  have,  without  realizing  it,  demon¬ 
strated  the  fact  that  they  have  all  along  been  looking 
for  it  in  the  wrong  place.  Thus,  more  than  twenty  years 
ago,  ex-Surgeon-General  Hammond,  in  the  President’s 
address  delivered  before  the  New  York  Neurological 
Society,  showed  that  certain  faculties  of  the  mind  are 
seated  in  the  spinal  cord,  and  not  in  the  brain.  In  his 
great  work  on  Insanity  he  reiterates  his  declaration  and 
demonstrates  by  many  original  experiments  that  the 
brain  is  not  the  organ  of  the  instinctive  faculties. 
Among  other  experiments,  he  totally  eliminated  the 
brains  of  certain  living  animals,  and  found  that  the  in¬ 
stinctive  functions  were  performed  precisely  as  before. 

He  quotes  many  eminent  authorities  to  sustain  his  po¬ 
sition,  and  explicitly  declares  that  the  instinctive  facul¬ 
ties  do  not  reside  in  the  brain.  He  further  declares  that 
they  are  seated  “  exclusively  in  the  medulla  oblongata, 
or  in  the  spinal  cord,  or  in  both  those  organs.” 

Now,  be  it  remembered,  those  faculties  which  are 
found  not  to  be  located  in  the  brain  are  all  faculties  of 
the  subjective  mind. 

I  am  not  disposed,  however,  to  agree  with  Dr.  Ham¬ 
mond  in  his  confident  statement  that  those  faculties  are 
located  exclusively  in  any  organ  of  the  human  body, 
much  as  I  admire  him  for  his  genius  and  his  vast  learn¬ 
ing.  That  declaration  was  doubtless  made  without  duly 
considering  all  the  facts  collateral  to  the  subject  he  was 
then  investigating.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  has  succeeded 
in  demonstrating  duality  of  mind  by  the  use  of  the 
scalpel. 

He  doubtless  felt  that  it  was  incumbent  upon  him  to 
locate  the  instinctive  faculties  somewhere,  since  he  had 
shown  that  they  do  not  reside  in  the  brain.  This,  how- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


25 


ever,  is  a  fallacy  which  the  Doctor  will  probably  admit 
freely  when  his  attention  is  called  to  the  consequences 
it  involves. 

Materialistic  scientists  have  succeeded  in  demonstrat¬ 
ing  that  the  objective  mind  is  a  function  of  the  brain, 
and  that  it  is,  therefore,  inherent  in  the  brain.  It  fol¬ 
lows  that  when  the  brain  dies  the  objective  mind  ceases 
to  exist. 

This  is  unquestionably  true.  But  it  does  not  follow, 
as  they  would  have  us  believe,  that  the  subjective  mind 
is  inherent  in  any  one  or  more  organs  of  the  body.  On 
the  contrary,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
subjective  mind  exists  independently  of  any  specialized 
organ  whatever.  That  its  control  of  the  body  is  not 
dependent  upon  any  specific  physical  organization,  is 
shown  in  the  moneron.  Haeckel  tells  us  that  the  mon- 
eron  is  a  simple,  homogeneous  mass  of  plasson,  and  is 
entirely  destitute  of  any  organs  whatever  —  not  even 
containing  the  nucleus,  which  is  the  earliest  develop¬ 
ment  of  a  physical  organ  in  animal  life.  Yet  this  mone¬ 
ron  is  animated  by  the  intelligence  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking,  this  God-like  intelligence  which  materialistic 
science  has  dismissed  under  the  name  of  instinct  or 
intuition,  without  accounting  for  either,  but  which, 
wherever  it  appears  in  animate  nature,  is  the  symbol  of 
Divinity. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  self-evident  that  the  power 
which  is  capable  of  animating  a  homogeneous  mass  of 
plasson  with  life  and  intelligence,  is  certainly  not  depen¬ 
dent  upon  specific  organs  for  its  capacity  to  animate  the 
human  body  and  to  control  its  functions.  There  is, 
therefore,  no  a  priori  reason  for  supposing  that  the  brain 
is  the  organ  of  the  subjective  mind. 


26 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Again,  this  is  demonstrated  in  experimental  hypno¬ 
tism  by  the  well-known  fact  that  when  a  hypnotic  sub¬ 
ject  is  deeply  entranced,  he  retains  no  recollection  of 
what  has  occurred  during  his  sleep,  however  exciting, 
or  even  tragic,  may  have  been  the  scenes  through  which 
he  passed.  Now,  every  student  of  cerebral  anatomy 
knows  that  every  brain-thought,  every  experience  of 
which  the  brain  takes  cognizance,  causes  a  modification 
of  brain  cells,  thus  creating  brain  memories.  The  ab¬ 
sence  of  brain  memories  immediately  following  an  ex¬ 
citing  experience  is,  therefore,  demonstrative  that  the 
brain  was  not  cognizant  of  the  experience. 

There  are,  in  short,  thousands  of  good  and  sufficient 
reasons,  backed  by  facts  beyond  dispute,  for  declaring 
that  the  brain  is  not  the  organ  of  the  subjective  mind; 
and  not  one  fact  or  valid  argument  has  ever  been  ad¬ 
duced  to  show  that  it  is. 

These  facts  alone  demonstrate  the  duality  of  mind. 
These  facts  alone  go  far  to  demolish  the  last  stronghold 
of  materialistic  science  in  its  efforts  to  prove  the  im¬ 
possibility  of  a  future  life.  A  few  words  will  make  my 
meaning  plain : 

Their  argument  is  based  upon  the  hypothesis  that  the 
mind  is  the  soul,  the  question  of  duality  of  mind,  of 
course,  not  being  considered.  Their  next  proposition  is 
that  mind  is  the  function  of  the  brain  and  is  inherent  in 
that  organ.  Then  they  proceed  to  demonstrate  by 
cerebral  anatomy  and  experimental  surgery  that  each 
faculty  of  the  mind  is  controlled  by  a  certain  portion  of 
the  brain ;  and  that  when  one  of  these  brain  centres  is 
eliminated  or  paralyzed  by  accident  or  design,  the  part 
or  faculty  of  the  mind  controlled  by  that  brain  centre  is 
forever  destroyed.  This,  they  argue,  is  demonstrative 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


27 


that  the  mind  (and  soul)  is  inherent  in  the  brain  and 
necessarily  perishes  with  that  organ.  They  also  point 
out  the  fact  that  when  the  body  is  wasted  by  disease  the 
mind  grows  correspondingly  feeble ;  and  they  draw  the 
not  unnatural  conclusion  that  body,  brain,  and  mind 
perish  together.  In  these  premises  and  in  these  con¬ 
clusions  they  are  unquestionably  right ;  and  vain  would 
be  our  hope  of  a  future  life  if  it  depended  upon  the  con¬ 
tinued  existence  of  the  objective  mind.  That  necessarily 
shares  the  fate  of  the  physical  organ  of  which  it  is  the 
function.  On  the  other  hand,  as  I  have  already  pointed 
out,  the  subjective  mind  is  not  the  function  of  any  phys¬ 
ical  organ.  It  is  not  an  effect,  but  a  cause  —  a  cause 
antecedent  to  physical  organization ;  an  entity  depend¬ 
ent  upon  organization  only  for  the  means  of  its  phe¬ 
nomenal  manifestation,  and  not  for  its  existence.  In 
other  words,  it  is  immanent  and  not  inherent  in  the  body. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  entire  distinction  in  the 
sphere  of  the  subjective  from  that  of  the  objective  mind 
is  afforded  by  the  involuntary  functions,  over  which  the 
former  exercises  an  absolutely  undivided  sway.  The 
objective  mind  cannot  directly  control  one  purely  invol¬ 
untary  muscle.  It  cannot  hasten  or  retard  one  vital 
process.  All  the  marvellous  co-ordination  of  the  vege¬ 
tative  functions  is  effected  through  the  dominion  and 
sleepless  vigilance  of  the  subjective.  Its  medium  of 
control  is  the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  The  objec¬ 
tive  mind,  on  the  other  hand,  normally  directs  the  vol¬ 
untary  muscles  and  functions  of  the  physical  organism. 
Its  medium  of  control  is  the  cerebro-spinal  system. 

'  Now,  a  very  important  fact  in  this  connection  is  that 
the  functions  of  the  two  minds  are  not  interchangeable. 
Thus,  whilst  Ihe  objective  mind  cannot,  of  its^wn  vo- 


28 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


lition,  move  a  single  involuntary  muscle,  the  subjective 
mind  can,  and  often  does,  take  possession  of  the  entire 
body  and  wield  it  at  its  will.  This  can  be  brought  about 
experimentally  by  means  of  hypnotism,  when  the  brain 
functions  are  held  in  total  abeyance.  It  almost  invari¬ 
ably  occurs  when  the  body  is  in  imminent  and  deadly 
peril.  At  such  a  moment  the  objective  faculties  are 
benumbed;  but,  under  the  control  of  the  subjective 
mind,  the  body  acts  with  preternatural  rapidity  and  pre¬ 
cision,  and  feats  of  strength  are  often  performed  that 
would  be  impossible  under  normal  conditions.  Sponta¬ 
neous  somnambulism  furnishes  many  familiar  illustra-’ 
tions  of  subjective  control  over  both  the  voluntary  and 
involuntary  muscular  systems. 

I  have  cited  these  well-known  facts  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  how  much  more  intimate  and  pervasive  must 
be  the  connection  between  the  subjective  mind  and  the 
body  than  that  subsistent  between  the  objective  mind 
and  the  body. 

This  difference  being  thus  provisionally  established, 
we  might  reasonably  expect  to  find  that  the  time  of  re¬ 
action  to  sensorial  stimuli  would  be  materially  decreased 
during  hypnosis.  Accordingly,  we  learn  from  the  ex¬ 
periments  of  Professor  Stanley  Hall  and  others  that  the 
time  of  reaction  is  decreased  nearly  one-half. 

These  evidences,  however,  are  merely  subsidiary ;  but 
they  are  such  indications  as  we  might  expect  to  find  if 
the  hypothesis  is  correct  that  the  soul  is  immanent  in  the 
whole  body  and  not  inherent  in  any  one  part  of  it.  The 
demonstrative  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  hypothesis 
is  found  in  the  phenomena  immediately  preceding  that 
divine  event  to  which  the  whole  world  moves  —  death. 

.When  that  supreme  hour  approaches  we  find  that  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


29 


observable  phenomena  are  precisely  what  we  should 
have  a  right  to  expect  if  it  is  true  that  the  soul  of  man  is 
immortal,  and  that  it  is,  therefore,  immanent,  and  not 
inherent,  in  the  body. 

We  also  find  that  the  objective  mind,  on  the  approach 
of  death,  exhibits  precisely  the  phenomenon  that  we 
should  have  a  right  to  expect  if  it  is  true  that  it  is  inher¬ 
ent  in  the  brain,  and  therefore  perishes  with  that  organ. 
The  respective  phenomena  of  the  two  minds  then  ex¬ 
hibited  are  simply  these:  the  objective  mind,  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  growing  weakness  of  the  bodily  or¬ 
gans,  ceases  to  perform  its  functions  in  perfection.  And 
it  is  generally,  if  not  always,  completely  obliterated 
before  final  dissolution.  Materialistic  scientists  have 
taken  great  pains  to  demonstrate  that  fact,  believing  it 
to  be  a  conclusive  argument  against  the  doctrine  of 
immortality.  We  may,  therefore,  accept  their  facts 
without  further  question,  but  not  their  conclusions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  phenomenal  manifestations  of 
the  subjective  mind  become  more  and  more  pronounced 
as  death  approaches  and  the  body  grows  weak,  and  its 
strongest  ones  are  at  the  very  hour  of  dissolution.  This 
fact  is  attested  by  all  the  records  of  psychic  phenomena, 
including  those  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 

It  is,  in  fact,  the  ultimate  phenomenal  demonstration 
of  the  universal  law  that  the  more  perfectly  quiescent 
the  brain  becomes,  the  stronger  become  the  manifesta¬ 
tions  of  the  subjective  mind.  At  the  hour  of  death, 
therefore,  after  the  brain  has  ceased  to  act  and  the  ob¬ 
jective  mind  is  totally  extinct,  there  is  an  interval  before 
the  soul  takes  its  flight,  in  which  it  shines  forth  with 
transcendent  lustre,  to  give  the  world  assurance  that  the 
death  of  the  body  is  but  the  birth  of  the  soul  into  a  more 
perfect  life. 


30 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


This  is  somewhat  of  a  digression,  but  it  was  necessary 
in  order  to  make  my  position  clearly  understood  in  ref¬ 
erence  to  a  vital  point  in  the  evolution  of  the  soul. 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  many  instances  are  re¬ 
corded  of  intuitive  perception  of  the  laws  of  physical 
nature  that  are  fully  as  remarkable  as  those  I  have  men¬ 
tioned.  The  conditions  most  favorable  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  power  are  not  known.  It  seems  probable, 
however,  that  comparative  freedom  from  the  sugges¬ 
tions  embraced  in  the  technicalities  of  objective  edu¬ 
cation  is  one,  at  least,  of  the  necessary  conditions ;  for 
it  is  sometimes  developed  in  idiots  and  frequently  in 
children.  When  it  is  developed  in  children  possessing 
a  normal  brain  structure,  it  is  always  found,  as  in  Zerah 
Colburn’s  case,  that  an  objective  education  in  the  line 
of  the  development  results  in  the  loss  of  the  subjective 
power.  In  Blind  Tom’s  case  an  objective  education  was 
impossible,  and  hence  he  never  lost  the  subjective  faculty 
which  distinguished  him. 

An  instance  illustrating  this  proposition  was  that  of 
Jedediah  Buxton,  recorded  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britan- 
nica.  It  was  thoroughly  investigated  by  the  Royal 
Society  of  London,  in  1754.  This  person  lived  to  about 
the  age  of  seventy  years,  but  never  had  the  brain  ca¬ 
pacity  to  learn  the  first  four  rules  of  arithmetic.  His 
abilities  were  equally  limited  in  every  other  direction 
save  one :  he  had  a  perfect  intuitional  perception  of  the 
laws  of  numbers.  He  would  walk  across  a  piece  of  land 
and  tell  its  contents  in  acres  as  exactly  as  it  could  be 
measured  with  the  appliances  of  the  surveyor’s  art.  “  In 
this  manner,”  says  his  biographer,  “  he  measured  the 
whole  lordship  of  Elmton,  consisting  of  some  thousands 
of  acres,  and  gave  the  contents,  not  only  in  acres,  roods. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


31 


and  perches,  but  even  in  square  inches.”  After  this  he 
reduced  them  to  square  hair-breadths,  reckoning  forty- 
eight  to  each  side  of  the  inch.  “  His  memory  was  so 
great,”  continues  the  account,  “  that  in  resolving  a  ques¬ 
tion  he  could  leave  off  and  resume  the  operation  again 
at  the  same  point  after  the  lapse  of  a  week,  or  even  of 
several  months.” 

In  other  words,  the  memory  of  his  subjective  mind 
was  absolute,  as  it  is,  potentially,  in  all  of  us.  I 

It  must  be  remembered  that  all  this,  as  in  Colburn’s 
case,  was  done  without  any  of  the  extraneous  aids  ordi¬ 
narily  employed  in  arithmetical  calculations.  It  was 
subjective  mental  arithmetic. 

These  same  intuitional  powers  are  often  developed, 
in  various  directions,  in  savages,  many  instances  of 
which  will  be  readily  recalled  by  those  who  are  familiar 
with  savage  traits  and  characteristics.  Again,  the  fish¬ 
ermen  of  Nova  Scotia,  when  fishing  on  the  banks  off  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland,  will  drift  about  in  fog  and 
storm  for  months  at  a  time,  without  paying  the  slightest 
attention  to  their  bearings ;  but  when  their  craft  is  laden 
they  will  hoist  their  sails,  and  without  having  seen  the 
sun  for  weeks,  will  steer  with  unerring  exactitude  for 
any  port  they  wish  to  make.  This  faculty  is  so  well 
known  to  the  other  Grand  Bank  fishermen  that  many 
a  Yankee  skipper  having  lost  his  reckoning  in  the  weeks 
of  thick  weather  has  picked  up  a  homeward  bound  Nova- 
Scotiaman  and  followed  him  into  port,  with  as  much 
confidence  as  he  would  have  had  in  his  own  observa¬ 
tions.  The  faculty  has  become  hereditary,  and  it  is  said 
that  a  compass,  or  any  instrument,  is  as  superfluous  to 
an  old  Nova  Scotia  fisherman  as  it  would  be  to  a  homing 
pigeon.  In  fact,  the  homing  instinct,  as  developed  in 


32 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


these  men  in  obedience  to  the  requirements  of  their 
vocation,  is  precisely  the  same  as  it  is  in  the  bird.  Thus 
is  Darwin’s  law  confirmed  and  carried  forward  to  the 
human  race  in  as  great  perfection  as  it  exists  in  the 
lower  animals.  The  possibilities  of  its  development  are 
infinite.  It  is  generally  confined  in  this  life  to  a  single 
faculty;  but  not  always. 

I  now  approach  the  highest  development  of  subjective 
power  that  ever  has  been,  or  ever  can  be,  manifested  in 
this  life.  It  was  developed  to  a  limited  extent  in  the 
long  line  of  Israelitish  prophets.  It  was  equal  to  the 
highest  demonstrations  of  their  prophetic  power.  It 
was  equal  to  all  that  can  be  properly  interpreted  as 
Messianic  prophesies.  But  in  no  one  else  on  this  earth 
has  it  ever  been  manifested  in  such  perfection  as  in 
Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

His  power  of  perception  of  the  laws  of  nature  ex¬ 
tended  into  higher  realms  —  into  the  domain  of  the 
human  soul;  into  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and 
wrong;  into  the  true  relations  of  man  with  his  fellow- 
men  ;  into  the  normal  relations  between  God  and  hu¬ 
manity.  It  enabled  him  to  invoke  successfully  the 
powers  of  the  soul  to  heal  the  sick.  It  enabled  him  to 
bequeath  to  humanity  the  true,  the  absolute  religion; 
a  religion  for  all  men  and  for  all  time ;  a  religion  which 
all  the  ages  of  eternity  can  never  improve. 

The  recorded  accounts  of  his  methods  of  healing 
the  sick  are  demonstrative  of  his  perfect  mastery  of  the 
laws  of  the  soul  in  its  relations  to  the  body ;  and  the 
vitality  of  his  religion,  in  spite  of  all  the  adverse  cir¬ 
cumstances  surrounding  its  birth  and  growth,  is  evi¬ 
dence,  little  short  of  proof,  that  it  is  founded  upon  the 
Rock  of  Eternal  Truth.  Otherwise,  it  could  never  have 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


33 


survived  the  mistakes  of  its  friends,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  assaults  of  its  enemies.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no 
other  system  of  religion  has  ever  flourished  amid  so 
many  adverse  conditions  as  has  the  Christian  religion. 
It  had  its  roots  in  a  region  remote  from  the  centres  of 
civilization,  and  among  a  nomadic  race  who  were  poor, 
despised,  reprobated,  and  persecuted  by  their  more 
powerful  neighbors.  From  the  first  it  encountered  the 


refined  philosophy  of  the  most  enlightened  and  cultured  ' 
nations  of  the  earth ;  and  it  has  its  literary  setting  in  a 
volume  which  teaches  an  absurd  astronomy,  an  impos¬ 
sible  geography,  and  a  cosmogony  the  crudeness  of  ^ 
which  is  detected  and  exposed  by  the  learning  of  every  j 
schoolboy:  and  yet  it  exists,  not  in  decrepitude  and  ' 
decay,  but  as  a  vital  and  essential  element  in  every  civ-  i 
ilization  worthy  of  the  name.  Its  theologians  in  times 
past  have  thrust  it  into  conflict  with  every  science,  and 
it  has  been  defeated  in  every  encounter.  Yet  it  is  not 
relegated  to  the  domain  of  ignorance,  but  flourishes  in 
the  greatest  luxuriance  of  growth  and  vitality  in  those 
nations  whose  people  are  the  most  enlightened  and 
progressive. 

That  there  is  to  be  found,  within  the  realm  of  natural 
law,  some  adequate  reason  for  this  paradox,  is  not  to  be 
doubted.  The  explanation  proffered  in  the  doctrine  of 
a  continuous  miracle  must  be  rejected  as  scientifically 
untenable.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  following  propo¬ 
sitions  afford  at  least  a  partial  solution  of  the  problem : 

I.  Jesus  was  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  intuitional 
perception  of  the  laws  of  the  human  soul ;  and  he  pro¬ 
claimed  to  mankind,  in  a  few  simple  statements,  the 
essential  principles  which  govern  the  relationship  of 
man  to  his  fellow-men  and  to  God. 


3 


34 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


2.  _A11  men  are  endowed  with  the  same  intuitional 
powers,  differing  only  in  degree;  and  by  this  means 
they  are  enabled  to  recognize,  when  once  presented,  any 
truth  which  is  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  soul. 

3.  It  follows  that  when  a  normally  constituted  per¬ 
son  reads  the  simple  but  all-comprehensive  philosophy 
of  Jesus,  his  soul  intuitively  and  instantaneously  recog¬ 
nizes  its  essential  truths. 

We  have  now  passed  from  the  lowest  manifestations 
of  instinct  to  the  highest  manifestation  of  intuitional 
power  ever  witnessed  on  this  earth.  We  may  now 
pause  for  a  moment  to  contemplate  the  profound  sig¬ 
nificance  of  the  facts  thus  presented.  The  first  great 
lesson  that  it  teaches  is  that  God  governs  this  universe 
by  immutable  law;  and  that  the  soul,  as  well  as  the 
body,  is  the  result  of  evolutionary  development.  Indeed, 
the  evidence  that  the  soul  has  been  thus  developed  is 
infinitely  more  perfect  than  that  which  is  offered  in 
support  of  the  theory  of  organic  physical  evolution. 
There  are  many  missing  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence 
to  sustain  the  latter,  which  can  only  be  supplied  by  spec¬ 
ulative  philosophy  and  a  priori  arguments. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  no  breaks  in  the  chain  of 
evidence  of  the  soul’s  origin  and  development.  More¬ 
over,  its  inherent  attributes  and  powers  proclaimed  its 
divine  origin  the  moment  it  was  ushered  into  existence. 

I  have  now  briefly  discussed  three  of  the  four  propo¬ 
sitions  with  which  I  started  out,  relating  to  the  light 
which  the  facts  of  evolution  shed  upon  my  fundamental 
hypothesis.  I  have  shovvm  that  those  facts  reveal  the 
dual  mind  of  man ;  that  they  demonstrate  that  the  brain 
is  not  the  organ  of  the  subjective  mind;  and  that  they 
disclose  the  genesis  of  the  human  soul.  It  remains  to 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  35 

show  that  the  same  facts  reveal  the  Living  God  and 
record  the  divine  pedigree  of  man. 

I  have  already  invited  attention  to  the  psychology 
of  micro-organisms.  I  have  shown  that  the  mental 
structure  of  the  moneron,  the  lowest  of  animal  life,  is 
built  after  the  same  general  plan  as  that  of  Omniscience. 
That  is  to  say,  it  possesses  the  same  power  of  intuitional 
perception  of  essential  truth,  with  a  difference  only  in 
degree  and  not  in  kind.  I  have  traced  the  power  from 
the  moneron  to  man,  showing  that  the  difference  is  only 
one  of  gradation  and  complexity. 

In  tracing  this  ascent  to  man,  there  is  one  consider¬ 
ation  that  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  for  it  is  of  vital 
import  in  tracing  the  origin  of  the  mind  of  the  moneron. 
It  is  that  in  that  mind  resided  the  potentiality  of  a 
limitless  development  through  the  processes  of  organic 
and  mental  evolution.  We  have  a  logical  and  scientific 
right  to  consider  these  potentials,  for  the  reason  that, 
whenever  it  is  possible  to  know  what  they  are,  all  pos¬ 
sibility  of  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  the  thing  under  con¬ 
sideration  is  removed.  Thus,  it  is  impossible,  by  means 
of  any  instrumentalities  known  to  science,^  to  distinguish 
the  germinal  cell  of  man  from  that  of  the  lower  mam¬ 
malia.  In  point  of  fact,  it  requires  months  of  develop¬ 
ment  to  reveal  the  distinction ;  for  every  organism,  in 
the  course  of  its  individual  ontogeny,  repeats  the  history 
of  its  ancestral  development.  In  other  words,  God  has 
stamped  upon  the  embryo  of  man  the  salient  facts  of 
the  history  of  organic  evolution. 

It  is  self-evident,  therefore,  that  if  its  potential  of 
development  could  be  ascertained,  it  would  instantly 
determine  the  question  of  the  origin  or  ancestry  of  a 
germinal  cell. 


36 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Fortunately,  the  potential  of  development  of  the  mon- 
eron  has  been  well  ascertained,  for  it  has  been  traced 
in  one  unbroken  line,  through  a  thousand  gradients,  to 
the  subjective  mind  of  man. 

We  have  found,  then,  in  the  lowest  and  in  the  highest 
development  of  animal  life,  powers  that  correspond  in 
kind  to  the  attributes  of  omniscience.  Now,  let  us  see 
what  powers  reside  in  the  subjective  entity  that  corre¬ 
spond  to  the  attributes  of  omnipotence.  The  latter  term, 
of  course,  implies  power  over  the  material  universe  and 
over  the  forces  of  nature.  Moreover,  it  is  a  spiritual 
power,  and  not  a  physical  force,  as  these  terms  are 
commonly  understood. 

In  the  first  place  we  must  assume,  provisionally,  that 
the  energy  resident  in  the  mental  organization  of  the 
moneron  is  a  spiritual  energy ;  that  is,  that  it  is  an 
attribute  of  an  intelligent  spiritual  entity  as  distin¬ 
guished  from  matter  —  that  it  is  a  property  not  inherent 
in  matter.  The  moneron  was,  therefore,  the  first  in¬ 
stance  tangible  to  our  senses,  where  an  organized  spirit¬ 
ual  entity  exerted  power  over  matter.  It  overcame  the 
inertia  of  protoplasm  and  endowed  it  with  life.  In  every 
step  in  the  progress  of  organic  evolution  that  power 
was  manifested  in  a  constantly  increasing  ratio,  for 
every  modification  of  physical  structure  was  in  answer 
to  demands  from  within.  That  is  to  say,  every  weapon 
of  ofifence  or  of  defence  was  evolved  in  response  to  the 
necessities  arising  from  physical  environment  and  the 
great  and  universal  struggle  for  life.  The  brain  itself 
was  not  an  exception,  and  it  is  the  most  potent  weapon 
of  all.  Like  every  other  means  of  offensive  and  defen¬ 
sive  warfare,  it  was  evolved  in  response  to  the  neces¬ 
sities  of  physical  environment ;  and  it  is  especially 
adapted  to  that  use  and  purpose,  and  to  no  other. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


37 


This,  then,  is  an  exhibition  of  the  power  of  spirit 
over  matter  as  shown  in  the  processes  of  organic  evolu¬ 
tion.  Guided  by  that  God-like  power  of  intuitive  percep¬ 
tion  of  the  essential  laws  of  its  being,  the  embryotic 
soul  impelled  the  development  of  physical  structure, 
step  by  step,  until  the  final  goal  was  reached  and  im¬ 
perial  Man  stood  revealed.  There  the  process  of  physi¬ 
cal  evolution  ceased  by  virtue  of  the  very  law  that 
brought  it  into  being.  Thus,  when  man  attained  suffi¬ 
cient  intelligence  to  build  a  fire  and  to  fashion  artificial 
weapons,  the  demand  for  increased  effectiveness  in  nat¬ 
ural  weapons  ceased ;  for  the  artificial  appliances  were 
far  more  formidable  in  war  and  effective  in  peace. 
Hence  it  was  that  swords  and  ploughshares  and  spears 
and  pruning-hooks  became  concomitant  factors  in  the 
evolution  of  civilization ;  and  hence  it  is  that  man  is  the 
highest  possible  product  of  organic  evolution ;  and  that 
the  great  law  of  progressive  development  must  now 
expend  its  energies  in  the  evolution  of  a  nobler  man¬ 
hood,  a  purer  morality,  a  higher  and  more  enlightened 
religion,  and  a  more  altruistic  civilization  —  the  reli¬ 
gion  of  Jesus,  and  the  civilization  of  which  he  was  the 
harbinger. 

It  was,  however,  reserved  for  man  to  manifest,  phe¬ 
nomenally,  those  powers  of  the  soul  which  correspond 
to  the  attributes  of  omnipotence.  These  powers  have 
been  manifested  in  thousands  of  ways  throughout  the 
ages.  The  phenomena  have  excited  the  wonder  and 
fostered  the  superstitions  of  all  races  of  mankind.  Sci¬ 
ence  wrestled  with  the  problem  for  centuries  and  then 
gave  it  up  in  despair.  Materialistic  scientists  once  con¬ 
tented  themselves  with  a  wholesale  denial  of  the  phe¬ 
nomena,  and  a  refusal  to  investigate.  Others  admitted 


38 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  phenomena,  but  ascribed  them  to  all  manner  of  agen¬ 
cies,  from  demons  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per¬ 
fect.  I  need  not  say  that  I  refer  to  so-called  spiritistic 
phenomena. 

Science  has  at  last  succeeded  in  unravelling  the  whole 
mystery,  removing  every  phenomenon  from  the  domain 
of  superstition,  and  demonstrating  that  all  the  mani¬ 
festations,  of  whatever  name  or  nature,  proceed  from 
the  subjective  minds  of  living  persons.  I  cannot  now 
enter  into  details,  but  must  content  myself  with  saying 
in  the  most  emphatic  manner  that  all  that  is  mysterious, 
all  that  is  uncanny  and  diabolical,  all  that  is  inane  and 
idiotic,  all  that  is  false  and  infamous,  all  that  transcends 
reason  and  common  sense  in  psychic  phenomena,  is  due 
alone  to  ignorance  of  the  fundamental  laws  that  govern 
the  relationship  between  the  body  and  the  soul.  The 
law  of  suggestion  is  of  the  first  importance,  but  the 
last  to  be  learned  and  comprehended.  To  remove  that 
ignorance,  and  nourish  the  subjective  mind  from  the 
pure,  perennial  fountain  of  truth  alone,  would  be  to 
elevate  the  soul  to  its  rightful  supremacy.  Its  intuitive 
powers  would  then  be  released  from  the  trammels  im¬ 
posed  by  an  environment  of  error  and  false  suggestion, 
and  it  would  become  a  “  cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of 
fire  by  night,”  leading  to  the  promised  land  of  Truth  and 
Right. 

This  is  a  slight  digression,  but  I  wish  to  make  my¬ 
self  as  clearly  understood  as  possible,  especially  in  the 
fundamentals. 

We  will  first  consider  the  control  which  the  subjective 
mind  exerts  over  the  matter  of  which  our  bodies  are 
composed.  In  the  first  place,  it  jias  complete  control 
over  all  the  functions,  sensations,  and  conditions  of  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


39 


body,  and  is  the  therapeutic  agent  in  mental  healing. 
It  can  exercise  that  therapeutic  power  in  pursuance  of 
suggestions  emanating  either  from  the  objective  mind  of 
the  individual,  or  from  that  of  another  person.  And, 
let  me  say,  cn  passant,  that  this  is  the  fundamental  law 
of  mental  healing,  and  all  systems  owe  their  success  to 
this  law,  consciously  or  unconsciously  applied.  _It  pos¬ 
sesses  the  power  to  inhibit  pain,  even  to  the  extent  of 
rendering  a  capital  surgical  operation  painless,  and  that 
without  the  necessity  of  hypnotizing  the  subject.  It  can 
inhibit  pain  or  it  can  cause  it.  It  can  heal  the  tissues 
or  it  can  cause  them  to  disintegrate.  Many  experiments 
have  been  made  by  European  scientists  which  demon¬ 
strate  this  fact.  Professor  Bernheim  records  his  tes¬ 
timony  that  he  has  caused  a  blister  to  be  developed  on 
the  back  of  a  hypnotized  subject  by  applying  a  postage 
stamp  and  suggesting  that  it  was  a  fly  plaster.  The 
same  authority  states  that  he  was  able,  by  suggestion, 
to  neutralize  the  effect  of  an  electric  current  which  was 
otherwise  absolutely  unbearable,  perfectly  inhibiting  all 
sensation.  Professor  Crookes,  the  eminent  London 
physicist,  declares  that  he  witnessed,  under  test  condi¬ 
tions,  the  handling  of  live  coals  of  fire  with  bare  hands, 
not  the  slightest  injury  or  discomfort  resulting. 

The  phenomenon  that  possesses  the  greatest  interest 
in  this  connection,  however,  is  that  of  levitation  of 
ponderable  bodies  without  physical  contact  or  appli¬ 
ances.  This  I  have  repeatedly  witnessed  under  the  most 
exacting  test  conditions.  Now,  for  the  purposes  of  this 
argument,  I  care  not  whether  that  phenomenon  is  caused 
by  an  embodied  or  a  disembodied  spirit.  I  will  say,  how¬ 
ever,  that  there  is  absolutely  no  valid  evidence  that  it 
is  to  be  referred  to  a  supermundane  origin.  Everything 


40 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


conspires  to  show  that  it  is  a  power  resident  in  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  of  the  psychic  in  whose  presence  the  phe¬ 
nomenon  is  produced.  The  point  is  that  jt  is  a  spiritual 
energy,  inherent  in  the  souls  of  men,  that  is  competent 
to  modify  or  set  at  naught  the  action  of  the  physical 
forces  ^f  nature.  In  the  cases  reported  by  Professor 
Bernheim  it  neutralized  a  powerful  current  of  electric¬ 
ity.  In  the  case  reported  by  Professor  Crookes  it  defied 
the  laws  of  combustion.  In  cases  of  levitation  it  defeats 
the  law  of  gravitation.  Thousands  of  cases  might  be 
mentioned  of  even  more  startling  import ;  but  time  for¬ 
bids.  All  the  ages  have  witnessed  these  phenomena, 
and  the  man  who  doubts  their  verity  is  not  entitled  to 
be  called  a  skeptic.  He  is  simply  ignorant  of  what 
he  might  know  if  he  would  conduct  an  intelligent 
investigation. 

Thunder  was  once  believed  to  be  the  voice  of  an 
angry  god.  The  bolts  of  lightning  were  forged  by 
Vulcan  as  instruments  of  wrath  in  the  hands  of  Jupiter. 
Inductive  science  has  explained  the  thunder,  enslaved 
the  lightning,  and  demonstrated  that  its  phenomena  are 
of  far  more  startling  import  than  was  dreamed  of  in  the 
philosophy  of  mythology. 

Psychic  phenomena  have  been  ascribed  to  angels  and 
to  devils,  to  spirits  of  health  and  to  goblins  damned. 
Inductive  science  has  discovered  their  proximate  origin, 
and  utilized  some  of  the  forces  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind.  It  is  now  seeking  the  Ultimate  Cause, 
and  to  demonstrate  that  the  truth  is  of  far  more  won¬ 
derful  significance  than  were  the  wildest  dreams  of 
superstition. 

Let  us,  then,  pursue  this  inquiry  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  inexorable  rules  of  logic  and  scientific  indue- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  4 1 

tion.  They  cannot  lead  us  astray  if  facts  are  the  words 
of  God. 

Let  us  now,  by  way  of  recapitulation,  group  these 
faculties  and  forces,  mental  and  dynamic,  with  which 
we  find  the  subjective  entity  to  be  endowed. 

Leaving  out  of  present  consideration  all  its  faculties 
except  those  of  intellect  and  kinetic  energy,  we  find 
a  being  endowed  with  a  mind  the  inherent  powers  of 
which  cannot  be  adequately  described  except  in  terms 
that  are  definitive  of  the  essential  attributes  of  omni¬ 
science  ;  and  with  a  dynamic  or  kinetic  energy  that  can¬ 
not  be  adequately  described  except  in  terms  that  apply 
with  equal  pertinency  to  the  attributes  of  omnipotence. 

On  the  other  hand,  and  I  wish  it  distinctly  to  be  un¬ 
derstood  and  remembered,  the  one  distinctive  faculty 
belonging  exclusively  to  the  objective  mind  —  that  of 
inductive  reasoning  —  cannot  be  ascribed  to  omni¬ 
science  without  employing  contradictory  terms  as  gross 
and  palpable  as  it  would  be  to  speak  of  a  rectangular 
circle.  Omniscience  is  knowledge  of  all  things.  In¬ 
duction  is  an  inquiry.  Obviously,  therefore,  it  is  but 
a  statement  of  a  truism  to  say  that  omniscience  is 
incapable  of  inductive  reasoning.  Neither  is  the  subjec¬ 
tive  mind  of  Man  capable  of  induction,  and  for  pre¬ 
cisely  the  same  reason.  Its  very  limitations,  therefore, 
stamp  it  with  the  sign-manual  of  Omniscience. 

Whence  come  this  God-like  intelligence  and  dynamic 
energy?  Materialistic  science  tells  us  that  we  inherited 
it  from  the  moneron ;  and  that  the  moneron  inherited  it 
from  inorganic  matter,  —  minerals.  At  this  point  some 
of  them  become  “  agnostic.”  Agnosticism,  you  know, 
is  aggressive  ignorance.  Hence,  some  of  the  agnostics 
set  themselves  to  write  books  to  show  that  beyond  a  cer- 


42 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


tain  point  there  exists  the  great  “  Unknowable.”  Others 
take  the  lecture  platform  and  “  split  the  ears  of  the 
groundlings  ”  with  vociferations  of  their  aggressive, 
uncompromising  ignorance. 

Another  class  of  scientists  dismiss  the  whole  subject 
by  an  oracular  statement  that  these  powers  are  inherent 
in  matter.  The  great  bulk  of  them,  however,  belong  to 
the  school  of  scientists  which  finds  its  great  exemplar 
in  the  late  lamented  “  Topsy.”  Their  explanation  is  that 
“  it  jest  growed.” 

In  the  meantime  the  great  mass  of  civilized  mankind 
have  reached  the  conclusion,  by  this  same  process  of  in¬ 
tuitive  perception  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  that 
the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  things  is  a  being  endowed 
with  infinite  intelligence  and  an  infinite  potential  energy. 
This  of  itself  is  a  prima  facie  evidence  of  its  verity,  for 
it  is  an  essential  truth  if  it  is  a  truth,  and  intuition  deals 
with  Essential  Truth.  The  burden  of  proof,  conse¬ 
quently,  rests  upon  those  who  deny  the  proposition.  If, 
therefore,  all  the  other  facts  confirm  this  intuition,  the 
evidence  will  be  conclusive. 

The  logical  propositions  bearing  upon  the  question 
may  be  formally  stated  as  follows : 

1.  There  are  but  two  known  ways  of  acquiring 
knowledge.  The  first  is  by  intuition,  and  the  second  is 
by  education.  I  employ  the  word  “  education  ”  in  its 
broadest  sense,  exclusive  of  instinct  or  intuition,  and 
inclusive  of  every  other  means  of  acquiring  knowledge. 

2.  Instinctive  or  intuitive  knowledge  is  acquired  by 
heredity. 

3.  Hereditary  knowledge  presupposes  an  antecedent 
mind  possessing  identical  faculties  with  those  inherited. 

These  three  propositions  are  axiomatic  and  will  not 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


43 


be  disputed,  for  they  are  confirmed  by  everyday  obser¬ 
vation  and  experience.  Thus,  when  we  see  a  bird  build 
its  nest  we  know  that  the  immediate  ancestor  of  that 
bird  possessed  the  identical  faculty  and  built  its  nest  in 
precisely  the  same  way.  When  we  see  a  new-born  ani¬ 
mal  shrink  from  its  natural  enemy,  we  know  that  it 
inherited  the  knowledge  thus  evinced.  We  know  that 
its  ancestors  possessed  the  identical  instinct.  Now,  we 
can  trace  this  line  of  heredity  back  from  Man  to  the 
moneron ;  and  we  know  also  that  the  monera  reproduce 
themselves  by  segmentation,  and  transmit  their  instincts. 
But  what  of  the  first  moneron?  For  there  must  have 
been  a  first  moneron,  and  it  must  have  had  in  perfection 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation.  It  must  have  felt  the 
impulse  to  seek  nutrition  and  the  power  of  locomotion ; 
and  it  must  have  possessed  the  power  of  digestion  and 
assimilation,  or  it  could  not  have  lived.  It  must  have 
felt  the  impulse  to  perform  the  function  of  reproduction, 
or  there  could  never  have  been  a  second  moneron,  and 
so  on.  In  short,  the  very  first  sentient  being  that  ap¬ 
peared  on  earth  must  have  possessed  such  a  knowledge 
of  the  essential  laws  of  its  being  as  were  necessary  to 
preserve  its  own  life  and  to  perpetuate  its  species,  or 
the  progress  of  organic  evolution  would  have  been  for¬ 
ever  arrested  at  the  very  threshold  of  sentient  existence. 

This  is  a  self-evident  proposition ;  and  no  refinement 
of  sophistry  can  weaken  its  force.  No  vague  speculation 
as  to  the  possibility  of  tracing  its  ancestry  back  through 
the  vegetable  to  inorganic  matter  can  destroy  its  signifi¬ 
cance.  Trace  it  back  as  far  as  you  will,  the  same  prin¬ 
ciples  hold  good,  and  the  same  crucial  question  arises, 
and  that  is  this  : 

Where  is  the  antecedent  mind  capable  of  transmitting 


44 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  essential  attributes  of  omniscience  and  omnipotence 
to  the  first  sentient  being  on  this  planet? 

There  is,  and  there  can  be,  but  one  rational  answer. 
It  is  self-evident  that  such  qualities  must  be  inherited 
from  a  Being  who  possesses  them,  —  an  Almighty, 
All-wise  Creator. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  intellectual  powers 
and  the  dynamic  energy  of  God ;  and  thus  far  we 
find  that  they  correspond  exactly  to  the  conceptions 
of  Christianity.  But  there  are  other  attributes  with 
which  Christian  faith  has  invested  the  Supreme  Being. 
Jesus  told  us  of  a  God  of  love,  mercy,  and  benevolence, 
—  the  Universal  Father.  Science  confirms  the  latter 
declaration,  for  it  traces  the  ancestry  of  Man,  in  one 
unbroken  line,  back  to  that  Universal  Father.  This 
demonstrates,  what  scientists  have  thus  far  failed  to 
note,  that  the  law  of  heredity  is  universal.  That  is  to 
say,  it  is  not  confined  to  race  or  species ;  nor  is  it  con¬ 
fined  to  the  earthly  plane  of  existence.  Thus,  we  have 
traced  the  power  of  intuitive  perception  of  essential 
truth  back  through  the  protozoa  to  Omniscience ;  and  we 
have  traced  the  kinetic  energy  which  is  inherent  in  the 
soul  of  Man  back  through  the  protozoa  to  Omnipotence. 

This  is  demonstrative  of  the  truth  of  the  following 
proposition : 

Whatever  faculties  are  found  to  exist  in  the  subjec¬ 
tive  mind  of  any  sentient  being  necessarily  existed,  po¬ 
tentially,  in  the  ancestry  of  that  being,  near  and  remote. 

This  is  axiomatic,  and  its  truth  will  be  instantly 
perceived  and  assented  to.  It  follows  that  whatever 
faculties  are  found  to  exist  in  the  soul  of  Man  existed 
potentially  in  all  its  ancestry,  and  actually  in  all  its 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  45 

ancestral  minds  that  were  sufficiently  developed  to  man¬ 
ifest  them. 

It  is  a  corollary  of  this  proposition  that  whatever 
faculties  we  may  find  to  exist  in  the  subjective  mind 
of  Man  must  necessarily  exist,  potentially,  in  the  mind 
of  God  the  Father  Almighty. 

We  may,  therefore,  confidently  revert  to  that  con¬ 
geries  of  faculties  and  powers  which  science  has  de¬ 
monstrated  to  be  inherent  in  the  subjective  mind  of  Man. 

Before  doing  so,  however,  I  desire  to  invite  your 
attention  again  to  the  inductions  and  deductions  upon 
which  the  great  lights  of  evolutionary  science  lay  the 
greatest  stress.  I  allude  especially  to  such  scientists 
as  Haeckel,  who  fancy  that  they  have  eliminated  God 
from  the  Universe  by  proving  that  Man  was  not  specially 
created  out  of  nothing,  but  is  simply  the  product  of 
organic  evolution. 

One  great  law  upon  which  they  build  their  super¬ 
structure  is  that  of  heredity.  Upon  that  they  lay  the 
greatest  stress,  declaring  it  to  be  a  universal  law,  and 
in  the  end  seek  to  prove  that  it  is  not  universal.  Thus, 
they  trace  the  ancestry  of  Man,  through  an  unbroken 
series  of  gradients,  back  to  the  moneron.  They  even 
descant  upon  the  wonderful  psychic  powers  of  that 
organism,  and  trace  the  development  of  those  powers 
up  to  man.  Haeckel  declares,  truly,  that  Man’s  place 
in  nature  can  never  be  accounted  for  on  any  other 
hypothesis  than  that  of  hereditary  transmission  and  de¬ 
velopment  from  that  unicellular  organism.  But  when 
asked  “  whence  comes  that  God-like  intelligence  with 
which  the  moneron  is  invested  ?  ”  he  abandons  the  he¬ 
reditary  hypothesis  and  tells  us  that  it  can  be  accounted 
for  only  on  the  theory  of  “  spontaneous  generation.” 


46 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


“  Spontaneous  generation  from  what  ?  ”  you  ask. 
From  inorganic  matter,  of  course.  Can  matter  think? 
The  question  answers  itself. 

His  scientific  attitude  is  this :  he  adheres  to  an  im¬ 
mutable  law  up  to  a  certain  point  —  the  crucial  point  — 
and  then  abandons  it  in  favor  of  a  palpable  absurdity. 

His  logical  attitude  is  even  worse;  for  he  has  com¬ 
mitted  the  one  unpardonable  sin  for  which  all  guilty 
logicians  are,  or  ought  to  be,  cast  into  outer  darkness. 
When  he  declares  that  the  intelligence  evinced  by  the 
moneron  is  the  result  of  “  spontaneous  generation,”  he 
simjdy  begs  the  que^ion.  For  that  is  the  very  question 
at  issue  between  the  Christian  evolutionist  and  the 
atheistic  or  agnostic  evolutionist.  At  that  point  comes 
the  parting  of  the  ways.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  Christian  evolutionist  has  decidedly  the  advantage 
in  the  argument;  for  it  is  yet  to  be  shown  that  such 
a  phenomenon  as  spontaneous  generation  of  life  is 
possible.  It  has  often  been  tried,  but  the  experiment 
has  never  yet  succeeded.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  evolutionist  can  well  place  himself  squarely  on  the 
proposition  that  the  law  of  heredity  is  universal  and 
immutable ;  and  that  intelligence  in  any  sentient  creature 
presupposes  an  antecedent  intelligence  transmitted  under 
the  universal  law.  Moreover,  he  may  reinforce  himself 
with  that  other  axiom  that  “  a  stream  cannot  rise  higher 
than  its  source  ” ;  and  further,  that  “  nothing  comes 
from  nothing.”  All  these  laws  and  axioms  must  be  set 
aside  as  idle  verbiage  if  we  are  to  suppose  that  the 
God-like  intelligence  of  the  moneron  did  not  proceed 
from  an  infinite  antecedent  Mind,  and  not  from  a 
fortuitous  chemical  compound  of  inorganic  matter. 

Another  favorite  argument  of  the  agnostic  evolu- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  47 

tionist  is  based  on  the  ontogeny  of  the  germinal  cell 
of  Man.  They  tell  us,  what  is  undoubtedly  true,  that 
the  ontogeny  of  the  human  embryo  is  a  repetition  of 
the  salient  features  of  the  phylogeny  of  the  primordial 
germ.  That  is  to  say,  the  human  embryo  begins  as  a 
unicellular  organism,  and  the  stages  of  its  development 
correspond  to  the  principal  steps  in  the  development  of 
animal  life  from  the  moneron  to  Man.  This  is  one 
of  the  strong  points  of  evidence  insisted  upon  by  evo¬ 
lutionists  in  favor  of  the  evolutionary  hypothesis.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  its  evidential  value  is  immense. 
But  its  true  value  has  never  yet  been  measured  by  those 
who  have  most  strongly  insisted  upon  it.  Like  the 
argument  from  heredity,  when  carried  to  its  legitimate 
conclusion  it  is  all  but  demonstrative  of  the  existence  of 
the  God  of  Christian  faith.  Thus,  the  human  embryo,  in 
its  first  stage  of  existence  is  a  unicellular  organism, 
microscopic  in  size,  and  differs  in  no  perceptible  respect 
from  the  embryo  of  any  of  the  lower  mammalia.  But 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  human  germinal  cell 
and  that  of  one  of  the  lower  mammalia ;  for  one  is 
endowed  with  the  potentials  of  a  human  organism  and 
the  other  is  not.  No  instruments  known  to  science  can 
enable  one  to  detect  the  difference  between  the  two. 
As  between  two  germinal  cells  there  is  but  one  way  by 
which  any  one  can  know  which  of  them  is  endowed  with 
the  potentials  of  a  human  organism,  and  that  is  by 
ascertaining  the  parentage  of  the  two  cells.  In  other 
words,  the  human  cell  is  endowed  with  the  potentials 
of  a  human  organism  because  it  had  its  origin  in  a 
human  organism. 

Now  let  us  begin  at  the  other  end  of  the  line  of 
heredity.  When  a  scientist  beholds  a  human  being  he 


48 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


knows  the  ontogenetic  history  of  that  being,  from  the 
germinal  cell  up  to  the  fully  developed  man.  By  ana¬ 
lyzing  the  faculties  of  that  being,  he  can  say  with 
certainty  just  what  faculties  were  possessed  by  the 
parent  organism  in  which  the  germinal  cell  had  its 
origin. 

These  are  all  self-evident  propositions  —  in  fact, 
truisms.  But  now  let  us  carry  the  same  process  of 
reasoning  into  the  phylogenetic  series.  When  an  intelli¬ 
gent  evolutionist  beholds  a  man,  he  can  recite  the  steps 
of  his  development  from  the  moneron  upward  to  the 
fully  developed  man.  He  knows  that  the  unicellular 
organism  from  which  he  was  descended,  in  the  phylo¬ 
genetic  series,  was  endowed  with  the  potentials  of  man¬ 
hood.  He  knows  that,  because  he  can  trace  the  line  of 
its  development  from  the  moneron  to  Man. 

But  how  did  it  happen  that  the  moneron  became  en¬ 
dowed  with  the  potentials  of  a  human  organism?  This 
is  the  crucial  question.  Haeckel,  in  common  with  all 
other  atheistic  evolutionists,  tells  us  that  it  was  by 
spontaneous  generation.  That  is  to  say,  at  that  crucial 
point  he  abandons  his  comparison  of  the  phylogenetic 
series  with  the  ontogenetic  history  of  the  human 
embryo. 

We  have  seen  that  the  human  germinal  cell  contained 
the  promise  and  potency  of  a  human  organism  solely 
because  it  had  its  origin  in  a  human  organism.  In 
other  words,  there  was  an  intelligence  antecedent  to  the 
germinal  cell,  which  was  endowed  with  faculties  iden¬ 
tical  with  those  of  the  organism  that  was  developed  from 
the  cell.  It  is  self-evident  that  the  germinal  cell  could 
not  have  developed  into  a  human  organism  had  there 
not  been  an  antecedent  intelligence  at  least  equal  to  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  49 

human  intelligence  from  which  the  human  germinal 
cell  derived  its  potentialities. 

Carrying  the  comparison  to  its  legitimate  conclusion, 
therefore,  we  must  suppose  that  there  was  an  antecedent 
intelligence  back  of  that  of  the  moneron  at  least  equal 
to  the  intelligence  that  eventually  developed  from  the 
moneron.  In  other  words,  since  we  know  that  the 
moneron  was  necessarily  endowed  with  the  potentialities 
of  a  human  organism,  we  also  know  that  there  must 
have  existed  an  antecedent  intelligence  at  least  equal  to 
a  human  intelligence.  Otherwise,  we  must  suppose 
that  something  can  come  from  nothing,  and  that  a 
stream  can  rise  higher  than  its  source. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  essential  law  of  evolution, 
namely,  heredity,  and  the  strongest  argument  in  favor 
of  that  hypothesis,  namely,  the  comparison  of  the  on¬ 
togeny  of  the  germinal  cell  with  the  phylogeny  of  the 
species,  each,  when  carried  to  its  legitimate  conclusion, 
leads  inevitably  to  the  Living  God  as  the  only  tenable 
explanation  of  the  facts  of  organic  evolution. 

Bear  with  me  while  I  carry  the  ontogenetic  argument 
one  step  further.  I  have  already  shown  that  an  analysis 
of  the  faculties  of  Man  necessarily  reveals  the  faculties 
of  the  parent  organism  of  the  germinal  cell  of  Man.  This 
is  self-evident.  Now  if  an  analysis  of  the  faculties  of 
Man’s  immortal  soul  in  like  manner  reveals  a  God-like 
entity,  antecedent  to  the  moneron,  the  evidential  value 
of  the  facts  we  have  considered  will  be  enhanced  a 
thousand-fold. 

Let  us  turn,  then,  to  the  table  exhibiting  the  faculties 
of  the  subjective  mind,  and  see  what  evidence  they 
afford  of  the  Living  God  —  what  proofs  they  present 
that  Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 

4 


50 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Now,  do  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that  I  am  going 
to  present  an  anthropomorphic  conception  of  the  attri¬ 
butes  of  God.  Such  conceptions  are  common  enough ; 
but  they  always  arise  from  an  attempt  to  realize  the 
attributes  of  God  from  a  contemplation  of  the  objective 
man,  or,  at  best,  of  the  faculties  of  the  objective  mind. 
It  is  obvious  that  a  multiplication  by  infinity  of  the 
power  of  inductive  reasoning  would  not  relieve  the  con¬ 
ception  of  its  anthropomorphism.  Induction  is  a  method 
of  inquiry.  A  God  possessed  of  infinite  powers  of  in¬ 
duction,  therefore,  would  be  a  God  of  limited  intelli¬ 
gence,  an  infinite  inquirer,  —  an  infinite  searcher  after 
information.  Our  boasted  “  God-like  Reason  ”  is  of  the 
earth  earthy,  —  the  very  antithesis  of  omniscience. 

Now,  let  us  turn  to  the  mind  of  the  soul;  the 
mind  which  antedates  the  objective  mind  by  untold 
millions  of  years ;  the  mind  which  is  our  heritage 
direct  from  omniscience ;  the  mind  which  bore  the 
sign-manual  of  Divinity  when  it  first  appeared  on  this 
earth. 

Intuition  heads  the  list  —  the  power  of  immediate  per¬ 
ception  of  Essential  Truth,  a  power  that  is  antecedent 
to  and  independent  of  reason,  experience,  or  instruction. 
Then  follows  inerrant  Deduction  —  the  power  to  cor¬ 
rectly  interpret  the  laws  and  truths  that  are  intuitively 
apprehended,  and  follow  them  to  all  legitimate  con¬ 
clusions.  Add  to  these  two  faculties  a  perfect  memory, 
and  multiply  the  sum  total  by  infinity,  without  changing 
the  essential  character  of  either,  and  the  product  is 
Omniscience. 

Descending  now  to  the  bottom  of  the  list,  we  find 
Kinetic  Energy,  —  the  power  of  moving  and  being 
moved ;  of  moving  ponderable  bodies  without  physical 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  5  I 

contact  or  appliances ;  the  power  that  controls  the 
physical  forces  of  nature,  and  enabled  Jesus  and  Peter 
to  walk  upon  the  water.  Multiply  this  power  by  infinity 
and  the  product  is  Omnipotence,  that  Infinite  Energy 
that  controls  the  correlated  forces  of  nature,  assembles 
matter,  and  creates  a  Universe. 

With  a  difference  only  of  degree,  therefore,  we  find 
in  the  soul  of  Man  every  essential  attribute  of  Om¬ 
niscience,  and  every  power  of  Omnipotence. 

Turning  now  to  the  emotional  nature  of  Man,  we 
find  that  which  purified  and  increased  by  the  sum  of 
infinity,  gives  us  a  God  of  infinite  love,  mercy,  and 
benevolence. 

Last,  but  by  no  means  least  in  importance,  we  find 
the  faculty  of  telepathy,  which  we  must  suppose  to  be 
a  divine  potential.  Science  pauses  here  and  asks  this 
question,  which  each  must  answer  for  himself :  Does 
not  the  possession  of  this  faculty  involve  the  logical 
deduction,  not  only  that  it  is  the  obvious  means  of 
social  communion  in  the  future  life,  but  that  it  is  the 
ever  open  channel  of  communion  with  God  through 
prayer;  and  not  only  that,  but  is  it  not  the  potential 
agency  of  divine  inspiration? 

These  questions  each  must  answer  for  himself  in  the 
light  of  the  evidence  before  him.  But  of  one  thing 
we  may  be  certain,  when  I  tell  you  that  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  two  persons,  as  far  apart  as  the  an¬ 
tipodes,  can  communicate  by  means  of  telepathy  just 
as  easily  as  if  they  were  in  the  same  room ;  and  that 
the  power  thus  manifested,  when  expanded  to  infinity, 
is  Omnipresence. 

If,  therefore,  the  intuitions  of  the  prophet  of  old  were 
inerrant ;  or  iiOljiife!  >va3  iidivifiely  j-inspired,  when  he  de- 


52  '  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

dared  that  “  Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God,”  we 
know  that  God  is  an  Omniscient,  Omnipotent,  Om¬ 
nipresent  God  of  Love,  Mercy,  and  Benevolence;  for 
we  find  in  the  soul  of  Man  each  of  these  divine  attri¬ 
butes,  differing  only  in  degree. 


II 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

IT  is  a  curious  fact  that,  in  the  so-called  “  conflict 
between  science  and  religion,”  the  materialistic 
scientists  owe  the  greater  part  of  their  popular 
polemical  successes  to  unwise  concessions  or  admissions, 
made  by  those  who  represent  the  religious  side  of  the 
controversy.  Thus,  when  the  doctrine  of  evolution  was 
announced  and  was  found  to  conflict  with  the  literal 
interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  creation  of 
organic  life,  materialists  were  instant  in  the  claim  that 
science  had  eliminated  God  from  the  universe,  and  the 
Church,  instead  of  seizing  upon  the  indisputable  facts 
of  organic  evolution  and  giving  them  a  rational  theo¬ 
logical  interpretation,  virtually  admitted  that  if  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  evolution  were  sound,  the  claim  of  materialism 
could  not  be  successfully  controverted. 

Having  made  that  admission,  it  felt  compelled,  in  the 
interest  of  religion,  to  deny  the  facts  of  evolution,  and 
thus  was  continued  the  warfare  of  theology  against 
science,  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  begun  by  the 
murder  of  Hypatia  in  the  fifth  century  for  teaching 
mathematics  in  the  schools  of  Alexandria.  The  result 
of  that  battle  between  science  and  religion  was  that  the 
intelligent  youth  of  Christendom,  being  taught  by  ma¬ 
terialistic  science  on  the  one  hand  that  the  facts  of 
evolution  disproved  the  existence  of  God,  and  by  the 


54 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Church  on  the  other  hand  that  science  and  religion 
were  in  deadly  antagonism,  felt  compelled  to  make  a 
choice  of  one  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other.  Hence  the 
tidal  wave  of  materialism  which  swept  over  Christendom 
during  a  portion  of  the  last  century.  The  facts  of 
science  could  not  be  ignored,  and  whatever  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  antagonize  them  necessarily  had  to  yield.  Hap- 
;  pily,  wiser  counsels  now  prevail,  and  it  is  beginning  to 
i  dawn  upon  the  more  intelligent  portion  of  the  Christian 
!  Church  that  a  rational  interpretation  of  the  facts  of 
organic  and  mental  evolution  demonstrates  the  truth 
of  the  essential  doctrine  of  Christianity. 

Again,  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  future  life  has  . 
suflfered  alike  from  the  assaults  of  materialistic  science 
and  the  admissions  of  the  Church.  Thus,  materialists 
tell  us  that  the  facts  of  their  science  all  tend  to  disprove 
the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul;  and  that 
there  are  consequently  no  facts  by  which  that  doctrine 
can  be  inductively  established.  They  tell  us  that  if  man 
has  a  soul  it  is  the  mind;  that  the  brain  is  the  organ 
of  the  mind,  and  that  consequently  when  the  brain 
perishes  the  soul  is  extinguished.  They  have  explored 
the  brain  and  definitely  located  some  of  its  most  im¬ 
portant  centres ;  and  they  have  demonstrated  that,  by 
removing  portions  of  it,  corresponding  faculties  of  the 
mind  are  extinguished ;  and  that  this  process  can  be 
continued  until  the  whole  of  the  brain  intelligence  is 
blotted  out. 

Arguing  from  these  demonstrable  facts,  they  tell  us 
that  they  have,  step  by  step,  extinguished  the  human 
soul  by  experimental  surgery,  and  thus  demonstrated 
that  its  very  existence  depends  entirely  upon  the  main¬ 
tenance  intact  of  the  brain  structure.  The  conclusion. 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


55 


of  course,  is  that  not  only  is  it  impossible  to  prove  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  by  induction,  but  that  all  the 
facts  of  physical  science  conspire  to  demonstrate  its 
impossibility. 

This,  then,  is  what  materialistic  science  has  had  to 
say,  and  still  says,  of  the  problem :  “  If  a  man  die,  shall 
he  live  again  ?  ”  And  it  must  be  said  in  all  candor  that 
if  its  fundamental  premises  are  true,  its  argument  is 
unassailable.  Moreover,  it  must  be  stated  that,  up  to 
within  a  decade,  its  premises  were  not  seriously  disputed, 
even  by  those  who  did  not  fully  share  its  conclusions. 
In  fact,  it  was  generally  admitted,  even  by  the  most 
ardent  believers  in  the  promises  of  the  Master,  that  the 
fact  of  the  future  life  was  not  susceptible  of  inductive 
verification.  They  did  not,  of  course,  admit  that  science 
had  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  a  future  life,  even 
though  compelled  to  recognize  the  facts  upon  which 
science  based  its  calculations;  but  took  refuge  in  the 
assumption  that  there  were  two  orders  of  truth  in  the 
universe,  namely,  religious  truth  and  scientific  truth, 
each  being  antagonistic  to  the  other. 

It  is,  however,  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  analyze  the 
old  arguments  for,  or  grounds  of  belief  in,  the  immor¬ 
tality  of  the  soul  further  than  to  remark  upon  the  sub¬ 
lime  faith  in  the  promises  of  the  Master  which  has 
kept  it  alive  in  the  breasts  of  his  followers,  in  spite  of 
the  seeming  demonstrations  of  materialistic  science.  I 
merely  wish  for  the  moment  to  draw  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  up  to  within  the  last  decade,  believers  and 
disbelievers  respectively  admitted  and  asseverated  with 
practical  unanimity  that  science  is  powerless  to  prove  the 
fact  of  a  future  life.  In  saying  this  I  purposely  omit 
spiritism  as  “  a  thing  apart.” 


56 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


My  present  purpose  is  to  inquire  whether  it  is  true 
that  so  momentous  a  problem  is  incapable  of  solution 
by  the  processes  of  induction,  my  firm  belief  being  that 
man  can  eventually  learn  by  that  process  everything 
that  it  is  important  for  him  to  know.  Facts  are  nature’s 
divine  revelations  —  the  sign  language  of  the  Omnipo¬ 
tent  —  the  very  words  of  God ;  and  reason  is  their 
divinely  commissioned  interpreter.  All  facts  are  con¬ 
sistent  with  one  another,  and,  properly  interpreted  and 
sufficiently  aggregated,  they  point  with  unerring  cer¬ 
tainty  to  ultimate  truth. 

In  other  words,  facts  constitute  the  only  valid  basis 
of  reasoning.  The  validity  of  the  conclusions,  however, 
depends  entirely  upon  the  proper  interpretation  of  the 
facts ;  and  that  in  turn  is  possible  only  when  a  sufficient 
number  of  facts  have  entered  into  the  calculation.  It 
is  true  that  one  may  come  to  a  correct  conclusion  from 
one  fact  alone,  but  that  is  rare,  and  it  savors  of  a  higher 

faculty  —  that  of  intuition.  But  Jn _ pure  inductive 

reasoning  the  only  safe  method  is  to  suspend  judgment 
until  the  largest  possible  number  of  facts  have  been 
collected  and  properly  classified.  The  obvious  reason 
is  that,  in  the  absence  of  a  large  number  of  facts,  a 
proper  classification  is  always  uncertain,  and  often  prac¬ 
tically  impossible,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  valid  classi¬ 
fication  one  is  liable  to  draw  his  conclusions  from  facts 
which  have  little  or  no  pertinency.  The  validity  of  an 
induction,  however,  depends  not  so  much  upon  the 
number  of  facts  considered  as  upon  their  pertinency. 

My  excuse  for  drawing  attention  to  these  elementary 
principles  of  inductive  investigation  is,  first,  that  it  is 
always  well  to  recur  frequently  to  first  principles ;  and, 
second,  because  I  intend  to  apply  them  to  the  old  “  sci- 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


57 


entific  ”  method  of  investigating  the  problem  of  a  future 
life,  before  proceeding  to  state  the  fact  upon  which  I 
rely  to  establish  its  reality. 

I  have  already  stated  that  the  materialistic  scientists 
have  relied  upon  the  facts  of  cerebral  anatomy  and 
experimental  surgery  to  prove  that  the  soul  of  man 
perishes  with  the  physical  body.  I  have  admitted  their 
facts  and  the  results  of  their  experiments,  and  I  have 
said  that  if  their  fundamental  assumptions  were  true, 
their  conclusions  could  not  be  successfully  controverted. 
This  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  if  their  premises 
are  true,  their  experimental  facts  are  pertinent  to  the 
issue ;  but  if  their  premises  or  assumptions  are  not  true, 
the  facts  upon  which  they  rely  are  foreign  to  the  sub¬ 
ject,  and  their  conclusions  are,  therefore,  necessarily 
unreliable.  It  becomes,  then,  of  first  importance  that 
we  should  test  the  soundness  of  their  fundamental 
assumptions. 

In  strict  justice  to  all  concerned  it  must  be  stated 
that  the  mistakes  of  materialistic  scientists  were  not  due 
to  any  false  method  of  reasoning.  Their  methods  were 
inductive,  and  their  experiments  were  scientifically 
exact ;  but  they  were  not .  pertinent  to  the  issue.  Nor 
was  this  due  to  individual  ignorance  of  logical  methods, 
but  to  the  then  prevailing  ignorance  of  anything  like 
a  scientific  psychology.  It  was  due,  in  short,  to  the  old 
psychology  —  which  was  a  psychology  minus  the 
‘^  psyche  ”  —  a  “  science  of  the  soul  ”  founded  upon  a 
profound  ignorance  of  the  soul.  It  was  the  scientific 
equivalent  of  the  proverbial  “  play  of  the  ‘  Prince  of 
Denmark  ’  with  the  part  of  Hamlet  left  out.” 

Under  such  a  psychology  materialism  assumed,  and 
had  a  right  to  assume,  that  the  mind  which  could  be 


58  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOU  I 

reached  with  a  saw,  and  the  faculties  of  which  could  be 
eliminated  with  a  scalpel,  constituted  the  only  mental 
organism  with  which  man  was  endowed ;  and  that  when 
that  mind  was  thus  destroyed  the  soul  was  exterminated. 
Science  then  knew  of  no  other  mind  than  that  of  which 
the  brain  was  the  sole  organ.  The  law  of  mental  duality 
had  not  been  discovered;  and  hence  there  was  no  pos¬ 
sible  means  of  knowing  that  man  had  a  soul  or  a  mental 
organism  whose  existence  and  phenomenal  manifesta¬ 
tions  were  not  dependent  upon  the  integrity  of  the  brain 
structure. 

The  new  psychology,  however,  throws  a  flood  of  light 
upon  man’s  mental  organism  in  general,  and  in  partic¬ 
ular  upon  the  attributes  and  powers  of  the  human  soul. 
It  reveals  in  man  the  possession  of  a  dual  mind,  or 
what  is  the  practical  equivalent  of  two  minds,  since 
each  is  endowed  with  distinct  faculties,  powers,  and 
limitations  which  are  not  shared  by  the  other. 

The  distinctive  faculties,  powers,  and  limitations  of 
the  two  minds  will  be  clearly  differentiated  when  we 
come  to  point  out  the  facts  which  indicate  the  future 
life.  For  present  purposes  it  must  suffice  to  say,  pro¬ 
visionally,  that  the  mind  of  which  the  brain  is  the  organ 
possesses  only  those  faculties  which  pertain  to  a  purely 
physical  environment ;  and,  being  dependent  upon  the 
brain  structure  for  its  ability  to  manifest  its  powers,  it 
necessarily  perishes  with  that  organ.  The  subjective 
entity,  on  the  other  hand,  is  endowed  with  faculties  and 
powers  that  especially  adapt  it  to  a  disembodied  exist¬ 
ence,  and  the  brain  is  not  its  organ.  This  is  to  say,  its 
higher  manifestations  are  made  independently  of  that 
organ.  The  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  subjective 
mind  is  the  mental  organism  of  the  soul. 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


59 


It  follows  that  materialistic  science  was  mistaken : 
(i)  in  the  assumption  that  the  objective  mind  consti¬ 
tutes  the  mental  organism  of  the  soul;  (2)  in  assuming 
that  the  brain  was  the  proper  field  for  exploration  in 
quest  of  the  soul;  (3)  in  the  supposition  that  saws, 
scalpels,  or  other  tools  are  reliable  instruments  of  pre¬ 
cision  for  testing  the  question  of  immortality.  Their 
conclusions  were,  therefore,  valueless  to  science.  They 
had  followed  the  inductive  method,  it  is  true,  and  their 
experiments  were  carefully  and  skilfully  conducted, 
but  their  facts  were  wrongly  classified,  and  were,  there¬ 
fore,  not  pertinent  to  the  issue  they  were  attempting 
to  decide. 

Materialistic  science  has,  therefore,  left  the  question 
of  a  future  life  exactly  where  it  found  it.  It  has  con¬ 
fused  the  minds  of  many,  promoted  skepticism,  and  dis¬ 
couraged  believers  from  indulging  in  the  hope  that 
science  can  ever  verify  the  promises  of  the  Master.  But 
that  is  all.  It  has  not  disproved  it,  and  that  of  itself  is 
good  ground  for  hope,  especially  when  we  remember 
that  it  has  not  yet  considered  a  single  fact  that  is  per¬ 
tinent  to  the  real  question  of  the  survival  of  the  soul 
after  the  death  of  the  body. 

It  is  an  axiom  of  science  that  knowledge  of  a  law  of 
'  nature  enables  its  possessor  to  reconstruct  the  past  and 
predict  the  future  with  unerring  certainty.  Thus,  the 
discovery  by  Kepler  of  the  three  laws  of  planetary 
motion  enabled  Newton  to  formulate  the  law  of  gravi¬ 
tation,  and  that  discovery  in  turn  enabled  one  of  his  suc¬ 
cessors  to  discover  and  definitely  locate  a  planet  that  at 
the  time  was  invisible  even  with  the  help  of  the  most 
powerful  aids  to  vision  then  existing.  But  its  existence 
and  its  location  in  the  heavens  were  just  as  certain  to 


6o 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  mind  of  the  scientist  then  as  after  the  hypothet¬ 
ical  planet  became  a  visible  reality  through  the  aid  of 
the  more  powerful  telescopes  that  were  subsequently 
constructed. 

This  axiom  is  as  true  of  the  laws  of  the  mind  as  it  is 
of  those  of  the  material  universe,  the  difference  being 
that  in  the  former  the  previsions  cannot  always  be  ob¬ 
jectively  verified.  They  are  just  as  certain,  however, 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other  if  we  give  credit  to  that 
universal  axiom  of  science  affirmative  of  the  “  con¬ 
stancy  of  nature.”  Thus,  while  the  axiom  “  There  can 
be  no  faculty  of  the  mind  without  a  function  to  per¬ 
form  ”  may  not,  in  the  strictest  sense,  be  called  a  law  of 
nature,  it  has  the  force  of  one,  in  that  it  is  what  Herbert 
Spencer  would  call  “  a  universal  postulate,”  because  “  its 
opposite  is  inconceivable  ”  —  unthinkable.  It  is,  there¬ 
fore,  as  safe  a  proposition  to  reason  from  as  the  theorem 
of  Newton.  It  is,  indeed,  the  psychological  equivalent 
of  the  axiom  of  physiological  science  which  postulates 
a  function  for  every  organ  of  the  body.  So  true  is  the 
latter  proposition  that  even  the  vocabulary  of  materialis¬ 
tic  science  is  unequal  to  the  discussion  of  physiology  in 
other  than  terms  of  “  design.” 

This,  then,  is  the  psychological  proposition  upon  which 
I  shall  base  my  argument  for  a  future  life;  There  can 
exist  no  faculty  of  the  human  mind  without  a  use  or  a 
function  to_perform,  somewhere,  or  at  some  time,  in 
the  life  of  the  individual.  This,  I  repeat,  is  a  “  universal 
postulate,”  for  its  opposite  is  inconceivable.  It  is  self- 
evident,  and  therefore  requires  no  argument  to  sustain  it. 

It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  bearing  of  this  propo¬ 
sition  upon  the  question  of  a  future  life  is  entirely 
dependent  upon  my  ability  to  show  that  man  is  endowed 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


6r 


with  faculties  of  mind  that  perform  no  normal  function 
in  this  life.  If  that  can  be  satisfactorily  shown  I  shall 
have  a  right  to  assume  that  such  functions  will  be  per¬ 
formed  in  the  future  life;  a  fortiori  (with  stronger 
reason)  if  it  can  be  shown  that  those  faculties  and  func¬ 
tions  are  not  adapted  to  the  normal  uses  of  this  life,  but 
are  obviously  adapted  to  a  disembodied  existence.  All 
this,  and  more,  I  shall  attempt  to  show  by  the  aid  of 
what  is  now  known  as  man’s  psychological  endowments. 

I  have  already  stated  that  the  new  psychology  teaches 
us  that  man  is  endowed  with  a  duplex  mental  organism, 
or  what  seems  to  be  two  minds,  objective  and  sub¬ 
jective;  and  that  each  is  endowed  with  faculties  not 
shared  by  the  other.  I  also  stated,  provisionally,  that 
the  subjective  mind  is  the  mental  organism  of  the  soul. 
It  remains  to  point  out  the  facts  which  seem  to  justify 
these  assumptions. 

Beginning  with  the  objective  mind,  the  mind  of  ordi¬ 
nary  waking  consciousness,  it  is  found  that  it  possesses 
but  one  distinctive  faculty.  That  is  to  say,  it  possesses 
but  one  faculty  that  is  not  shared  by  the  subjective 
mind,  and  that  is  the  power  of  independent  induc¬ 
tion.  The  subjective  mind  is  destitute  of  that  power. 
In  other  words,  it  cannot  institute  an  independent  line 
of  scientific  investigation  by  collecting  a  mass  of  facts 
and  reasoning  from  them  up  to  general  principles  or 
laws.  This  is  the  distinctive  limitation  of  power  in  the 
subjective  mind  which  differentiates  the  two,  all  other 
points  of  differentiation  being  due  to  limitation  of  the 
powers  of  the  objective  mind.  This  subjective  limi¬ 
tation  is  due  to  the  law  of  suggestion,  and  it  is  gener¬ 
ally  expressed  in  the  formula:  “The  subjective  mind 
is  constantly  amenable  to  control  by  the  power  of  sug- 


62 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


gestion.”  This  is  the  equivalent  of  saying  that  it  is 
compelled  to  take  its  premises  from  extraneous  sources, 
and  is  hence  incapable  of  independent  induction. 

All  other  powers  of  the  objective  mind  are  shared  by 
the  subjective;  as,  for  instance,  the  power  of  deductive 
reasoning.  Deduction  is,  of  course,  a  necessary  con¬ 
comitant  of  induction,  inasmuch  as  the  reasoning  pro¬ 
cess  consists  in  alternate  induction  and  deduction.  That 
is  to  say,  induction  reasons  from  a  collection  of  facts 
up  to  general  principles,  and  deduction  reasons  down 
from  general  principles  to  particular  facts,  and  both  are 
necessary  means  of  conducting  scientific  inquiry.  De¬ 
duction  is,  therefore,  necessarily  a  faculty  of  the  objec¬ 
tive  mind,  and,  as  before  remarked,  it  is  shared  by 
the  subjective,  the  difference  being  one  of  degree.  It 
is  inherent  and  potentially  perfect  in  the  subjective 
mind,  but  in  the  objective  it  is  dependent  upon  brain 
cultivation. 

The  other  powers  of  the  objective  mind  may  be  all 
classed  under  the  head  of  memory.  JtJs  itself  destitute 
^f  emotion,  having  only  memories_of  emotional  experi¬ 
ences.  The  emotions  belong  exclusively  to  the  subjec¬ 
tive  mind,  where  they  were  located  in  the  beginning  of 
organic  life,  seons  before  the  brain  was  evolved  in  the 
process  of  organic  evolution.  The  power  of  memory 
is  also  shared  by  the  subjective  mind,  the  difference 
again  being  one  of  degree.  That  of  the  objective  mind, 
being  dependent  upon  the  development  and  constant 
refunctioning  of  brain  cells,  is  necessarily  very  imper- 
!  feet;  for  the  atrophy  of  a  brain  cell  destroys  a  brain 
I  memory,  whereas  the  memory  of  the  subjective  mind, 
I  not  being  thus  dependent  upon  the  integrity  of  a  physi¬ 
cal  organ,  is  absolute.  It  not  only  retains  in  perfection 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


63 


all  that  it  receives  during  the  lifetime  of  the  individual, 
but  it  is  endowed  with  a  fund  of  ancestral  memories 
which  reappear  in  the  phenomena  of  heredity  and 
instinct. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  objective  mind  is  endowed 
with  but  one  generic  faculty,  namely  the  power  of  induc¬ 
tion  and  its  necessary  concomitants  —  deduction  and 
memory.  In  other  words,  it  is  pure  intellect.  It  is  the 
faculty  of  judgment  and  discrimination  —  the  ability  to 
estimate  the  values  of  facts  in  their  relations  to  each 
other,  the  mental  instrumentality  by  which  man  grasps 
the  laws  of  nature  and  enslaves  her  forces.  It  is,  in 
short,  the  one  faculty  of  mind  that  is  adapted  to  man’s 
use  in  his  struggle  with  the  vicissitudes  of  an  imperfect 
physical  environment,  in  a  world  that  is  in  its  formative 
stage,  physically,  mentally,  and  morally.  It  is  pro¬ 
foundly  significant  that  the  brain  —  the  sole  organ  of 
the  objective  mind  —  is  a  product  of  organic  evolution. 
Like  all  the  other  physical  organs,  it  was  evolved  in 
response  to  a  necessity  of  organic  life,  and  obviously  to 
assist  its  possessor  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  In  a 
word,  the  brain  is  a  highly  specialized  physical  organ, 
the  functions  of  which  pertain  solely  to  this  life,  as  will 
more  fully  appear  hereinafter.  Organic  life  on  this 
planet  was  more  than  half  as  old  as  it  is  now  before  an 
animal  with  a  brain  made  its  appearance.  The  subjec¬ 
tive  mind,  therefore,  antedated  the  objective  by  untold 
millions  of  yjiars^  for  the  former  existed  in  potential 
perfection  in  the  lowest  unicellular  organism  —  the 
earliest  and  humblest  of  man’s  earthly  ancestors. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  salient  features  of  man’s  sub¬ 
jective  powers  and  faculties,  first,  with  a  view  to  ascer¬ 
taining  whether  they  seem  to  fit  him  for  a  higher  plane 


64 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


of  existence;  and,  second,  whether  they  reveal  in  man 
the  possession  of  faculties  and  powers  that  perform  no 
normal  function  on  the  earthly  plane. 

First  in  the  natural  order  of  treatment  is  the  faculty 
of  intuition,  which  is  possessed  exclusively  by  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind,  the  objective  not  being  endowed  with  any 
power  remotely  akin  to  it.  By  intuition  I  mean  the 
immediate  perception  of  truth,  general  principles  or 
laws,  antecedent  to  and  independently  of  reason,  ex¬ 
perience,  or  instruction.  It  is  that  mysterious  faculty 
which  in  animals  is  called  instinct.  Its  higher  manifes¬ 
tation  in  man  is  called  intuition,  or  intuitive  perception 
of  truth.  But  it  is  the  same  generic  faculty,  and  it  is  as 
fully  developed  in  the  lowest  unicellular  organism  as  it  is 
in  the  highest  order  of  manhood,  the  difference  being  of 
degree  and  character  of  manifestation.  Beginning  with 
the  moneron,  and  ascending  through  all  the  gradations 
of  animal  life  to  man,  it  is  developed  in  exact  proportion 
to  the  wants,  necessities,  and  stage  of  development 
of  each  species.  In  the  lower  animals  it  manifests 
itself  in  those  acts  which  serve  to  protect  the  individual 
and  to  preserve  the  species.  In  man  it  is  sporadically 
manifested  in  men  of  genius  and  other  prodigies,  and  in 
its  highest  manifestations  it  reaches  into  the  realm  of 
the  human  soul  and  reveals  its  origin,  its  destiny,  and 
the  laws  of  its  being. 

In  the  lowest  order  of  animal  life  —  the  moneron 
—  that  physical  “  organism  without  organs,”  as  Haeckel 
calls  it,  the  divine  origin  of  life  and  mind  is  more  clearly 
revealed  than  in  any  other  phenomenon  of  sentiency,  for 
its  mental  attributes,  as  revealed  by  its  instinctive  acts, 
proclaim  its  kinship  to  omniscience  in  language  that  can¬ 
not  be  otherwise  interpreted.  Thus  the  instinct  of  the 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


65 


moneron  reveals  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  its  being,  and  this  is  all  that  can  be  said  of  om¬ 
niscience.  The  difference  is  one  of  degree  and  is  pro¬ 
portioned  to  the  state  of  development  and  environment. 
Heredity  from  earthly  ancestors  cannot  be  invoked  to 
account  for  the  possession  of  that  faculty  in  the  mon¬ 
eron,  for  it  had  no  earthly  ancestors.  But  as  heredity 
is  the  only  known  method  of  transmitting  subjective 
faculties,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  a 
direct  inheritance  from  the  divine  mind.  And  this  view 
is  strengthened  by  the  obvious  fact  that  the  heritage  is 
the  essential  attribute  of  omniscience. 

It  is  an  axiom  of  the  science  of  organic  evolution  that 
the  potentialities  of  manhood  reside  in  the  primordial 
germ.  Atheistic  scientists  affirm  this  with  insistent  it¬ 
eration  —  and  it  is  unquestionably  true.  But  it  is  also 
true  that  the  very  facts  upon  which  atheistic  science 
relies  to  prove  its  axiom  also  proclaim,  with  stronger 
reason,  the  divine  origin  of  the  life  and  mind  in  evidence 
in  the  primordial  germ,  and  thus  reveal  in  it  the  poten¬ 
tialities,  not  alone  of  manhood,  but  of  an  immortal  soul. 
I  submit  that  the  inheritance  of  the  potentialities  of  the 
divine  attributes  of  mind  presupposes  the  inheritance 
of  the  potentialities  of  the  divine  continuity. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  at  the  very  threshold  of 
organic  life  on  this  planet  the  subjective  mind  appeared, 
and  that  it  was  endowed  with  the  divine  power  or  faculty 
of  intuition,  —  a  faculty  which  enables  its  possessor  to 
know,  by  immediate  apprehension,  all  essential  truth 
pertaining  to  his  stage  of  development  and  his  environ¬ 
ment  ;  a  power  that  as  far  transcends  that  of  induction 
as  the  light  of  the  sun  exceeds  the  light  of  the  humblest 
of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

S 


66 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Man  boasts  of  his  “  Grod-like  powers  ”  of  inductive 
reason.  But  it  is  anything  but  God-like.  An  omniscient 
God  cannot  reason  inductively.  Why?  Because  induc¬ 
tion  is  an  inquiry  —  a  slow  and  painful  method  of 
searching  for  information  —  a  systematic  effort  to  find 
out  something  that  the  inquirer  does  not  know.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  contradiction  in  terms  to  say  that  an  om¬ 
niscient  God  can  reason  inductively,  God  knows  all 
things  by  virtue  of  his  powers  of  intuition,  and  he 
has  transmitted  those  powers  to  the  souls  of  his  children 
in  exact  proportion  to  their  requirements. 

It  will  now  be  apparent  to  the  intelligent  reader  why 
I  have  said  that  the  one  distinctive  power  of  the  objec¬ 
tive  mind  is  especially  adapted  to  the  requirements  of 
an  imperfect  physical  environment  —  to  a  world  that 
is  in  its  formative  stage  —  and  to  no  other.  It  would  be 
superfluous  —  impossible  —  to  a  mind  endowed  with 
the  power  of  intuitive  apprehension  of  first  principles 
or  laws.  Assuming,  then,  for  the  moment,  a  future  life 
for  the  souls  of  men,  it  is  obvious  that  they  are  intellec¬ 
tually  well  supplied  for  a  far  higher  plane  of  existence 
than  this.  Other  faculties  of  the  soul  which  serve  to 
complete  an  ideal  mental  equipment  for  a  disembodied 
existence  will  appear  as  we  proceed  in  the  enumeration 
of  faculties  which  perform  no  normal  function  in  this 
life. 

In  saying  that  the  subjective  mind  is  endowed  with 
faculties  which  perform  no  normal  functions  in  this  life, 
I  must  not  be  understood  as  saying  that  none  of  its 
faculties  are  adapted  to  the  uses  of  this  plane  of  exist¬ 
ence.  On  the  contrary,  the  life  itself  of  the  body 
depends  upon  the  continuous  performance  of  some  of 
the  functions  of  the  subjective  mind.  Its  purely  bodily 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


67 


functions  seem  to  pertain  exclusively  to  the  preservation 
of  the  life  and  health  of  the  body,  and  to  the  perpetu¬ 
ation  of  the  species.  These  need  not  be  considered  in 
this  paper,  as  they  are  only  remotely  connected  with 
the  subject  under  discussion. 

Some  of  its  faculties,  however,  perform  useful  func¬ 
tions,  under  normal  conditions,  on  the  lower  plane,  but 
seem  to  manifest  themselves  only  under  abnormal  con¬ 
ditions  on  the  higher  plane.  Thus  the  faculty  of  instinct 
or  intuition,  one  phase  of  which  has  already  been  dis¬ 
cussed,  is  the  prime  conservator  of  animal  life  on  the 
lower  plane,  and  its  every  manifestation  is  normal  and 
useful  to  the  last  degree.  But  in  its  higher  manifesta¬ 
tions,  as  in  men  of  genius,  in  mathematical  and  musical 
prodigies,  and  in  poets  and  artists  of  the  subjective  types, 
abnormal  conditions  of  body  and  mind  seem  to  prevail. 
Nevertheless,  through  these  higher  manifestations  we 
catch  occasional  glimpses  of  a  transcendent  subjective 
power  which  certainly  is  never  normally  manifested  in 
this  life. 

While  we  may  not,  therefore,  be  justified  in  group¬ 
ing  this  faculty  with  those  that  perform  no  normal 
functions  in  this  life,  we  certainly  are  justified  in  so 
classing  its  higher  functions.  Moreover,  it  must  be 
classed,  provisionally,  at  least,  as  one  of  the  faculties  of 
the  human  soul  which  are  necessary  to  a  perfect  men¬ 
tal  organism  —  an  indispensable  factor  in  an  intellectual 
entity.  If,  then,  we  find  other  faculties  which  complete 
the  intellectual  organism,  and  still  others  which  are  in¬ 
dispensable  to  a  perfect  manhood,  some  of  which  perform 
no  normal  function  in  this  life,  but  are  obviously  adapted 
to  the  uses  of  a  disembodied  intellectual  entity,  we  shall 
have  justified  our  classification  and  proved  our  thesis. 


68 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


The  faculty  or  power  of  deduction  is  next  in  the  order 
of  discussion,  for  it  is  as  necessary  a  concomitant  of 
intuition  as  it  is  of  induction.  Both  induction  and  intui¬ 
tion  have  to  do  solely  with  general  laws  or  first  prin¬ 
ciples;  and  deduction  in  each  case  is  the  method  of 
deriving  practical  conclusions  from  the  laws  thus  ascer¬ 
tained.  As  I  have  before  remarked,  the  process  is  slow 
and  painful  in  the  objective  mind,  and  hence  frequently 
incorrect.  But  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  the 
deductions  of  the  subjective  mind,  from  well-ascertained 
laws,  are  practically  inerrant. 

Thus  the  intuitions  of  mathematical  prodigies  enable 
them  to  grasp  the  law  of  quantities  or  numbers,  and 
their  solutions  of  problems  are,  of  course,  merely  de¬ 
ductions  from  the  law.  If,  therefore,  the  problem  is 
intricate  and  instantaneously  solved,  as  it  often  is,  and 
the  solution  proves  to  be  correct,  it  constitutes  indu¬ 
bitable  evidence,  not  only  that  the  intuition  was  exact, 
but  that  the  deductive  power  displayed  was  inerrant. 

We  have  therefore  the  means  of  mathematically  dem¬ 
onstrating  the  fact  that,  under  favoring  conditions,  the 
intuitions  and  the  deductions  of  the  subjective  mind  are 
not  only  inerrant,  but  that  its  processes  of  mentation 
are  inconceivably  rapid.  Thus  the  instantaneous  nam¬ 
ing  of  the  cube  of  a  number  consisting  of  nine  figures 
by  a  child  who  was  objectively  ignorant  of  the  first  four 
rules  of  arithmetic  is  demonstrative  of  all  three  of  the 
propositions  —  exact  intuitions,  inerrant  deductions,  and 
rapidity  of  mentation. 

What  are  the  prerequisite  conditions' 'for  the  exhibition 
of  such  transcendent  powers  of  the  human  soul  is  not 
yet  known  to  science  except  in  a  very  general  way.  All 
that  is  known  with  any  degree  of  certainty  is  that  such 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


69 


phenomena  are  produced  only  under  abnormal  condi¬ 
tions,  involving  at  least  a  partial  and  generally  a  total 
suspension  of  the  objective  faculties.  It  is  also  known 
that  normally  such  powers  are  submerged  beneath  the 
threshold  of  objective  consciousness  —  hidden  by  a 
fleshly  investiture  —  buried  under  the  normal  dom¬ 
inance  of  the  objective  mind. 

I  submit,  therefore,  that  we  have  a  logical  right  under 
the  strictest  rules  of  scientific  induction  to  infer,  first, 
that  in  its  higher  aspects  intuition  performs  no  normal 
function  in  this  life,  induction  being  amply  sufficient  to 
enable  us  to  cope  with  the  vicissitudes  of  a  physical 
environment ;  and  secondly,  that  when  the  limitations 
of  our  physical  investiture  are  removed  those  transcen¬ 
dent  faculties  and  powers  will  perform  their  normal 
functions  in  a  perfect  mental  environment  —  in  a  realm 
where  all  truth  stands  revealed.  This,  I  say,  we  have 
a  right  to  infer  from  the  observable  facts  of  experi¬ 
mental  psychology.  But  we  know  that  such  faculties 
correspond  exactly  to  man’s  highest  possible  conception 
of  the  attributes  of  omniscience,  differing  only  in 
degree;  and  from  this  we  have  a  right  to  infer  the 
divine  origin  of  life  and  mind.  We  know  also  that  such 
faculties  are  adapted  to  the  uses  of  our  highest  con¬ 
ceptions  of  a  perfect  intellectual  environment  —  an  en¬ 
vironment  that  is  obviously  impossible  in  a  material 
world  like  this.  Again  we  have  a  right  to  infer  future 
uses  for  such  faculties  in  a  realm  commensurate  to  our 
divine  origin  and  the  God-like  faculties  of  the  soul. 

There  remains  but  one  other  faculty  requisite  to  a 
perfect  intellectual  equipment,  and  that  is  memory. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  is  possessed  in  potential  per¬ 
fection  by  the  subjective  mind.  It  is,  of  course,  shared 


70  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  ^ 

by  the  objective  mind,  the  difference  being  one  of 
degree. 

Strictly  speaking,  therefore,  memory  cannot  be 
classed  as  a  faculty  which  performs  no  normal  function 
in  this  life.  Nevertheless,  it  seems  probable  that  a  per¬ 
fect  memory,  such  as  the  subjective  mind  possesses, 
would  seriously  handicap  the  objective  mind  in  its  in¬ 
ductive  efforts.  Not  because  of  the  redundancy  of 
material  thus  furnished,  although  that  is  sometimes 
embarrassing,  but  because  a  perfect  memory  retains 
error  as  vividly  as  it  does  truth,  which,  in  the  absence 
of  perfectly  trained  powers  of  discrimination,  is  neces¬ 
sarily  productive  of  confusion  and  error.  In  point  of 
fact  one  of  the  most  valuable  “  powers  ”  of  the  objective 
jnind  consists  in  its  ability  to  forget.  It  erases  many 
a  grievous  error  from  its  tablets  which  would  otherwise 
form  the  basis  of  wrong  inductions.  It  relieves  the  over¬ 
crowded  brain  of  many  an  unfortunate  student  from  a 
crushing  load  of  useless  knowledge.  Most  important  of 
all,  it  enables  time  to  bring  to  the  heart,  overburdened 
with  sorrow,  respite  and  nepenthe  from  the  memories 
of  the  loved  and  lost. 

Not  that  a  good  memory  is  a  thing  to  be  deplored; 
but  a  good  memory  in  this  earthly  environment,  where 
error  is  ever  in  deadly  conflict  with  truth,  and  sorrow 
is  ever  present  or  impending,  is  one  that  is  tenacious 
alone  of  truth  and  joy.  It  may  be  objected  that  this  is 
beyond  our  control,  but  that  is  a  mistaken  idea.  Cere¬ 
bral  anatomists  tell  us  that  every  new  thought  or  ex¬ 
perience  creates  a  new  brain  cell  or  modifies  an  old  one, 
or  both,  and  that  each  memory  is  represented  by  a  brain 
cell.  It  follows  that,  as  brain  cells  are  physical  organs, 
memory  is  dependent  upon  physical  conditions,  and 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


71 


that,  like  every  other  physical  organ,  a  brain  cell,  or 
memory  organ,  may  be  strengthened  by  exercise,  weak¬ 
ened  by  infrequent  refunctioning,  or  atrophied  by  dis¬ 
use,  the  memory,  of  course,  following  the  conditions  of 
its  organ. 

Objective  memory,  therefore,  and  its  resultant  happi¬ 
ness  or  misery  are  largely  under  the  control  of  the 
individual.  The  wisdom  and  beneficence  of  such  a  lim¬ 
itation  of  the  powers  of  objective  memory,  in  an  im¬ 
perfect  physical,  moral,  and  social  environment,  are 
too  obvious  to  require  further  comment.  It  is  also 
obvious  that  a  perfect  memory,  such  as  the  subjective 
mind  possesses,  would  constitute  a  burden  too  grievous 
to  be  borne  by  mortal  man.  In  other  words,  a  perfect 
memory  is  not  adapted  to  the  uses  of  this  life.  Even 
Trom  an  intellectual  point  of  view  the  rule  holds  good. 
Thus,  an  imperfect  memory,  that  is  to  say,  a  memory 
the  retentiveness  of  which  is  largely  under  the  control 
of  the  individual,  is  a  necessary  concomitant  of  our 
powers  of  induction ;  for  that,  whereas  induction 
enables  us  to  “  prove  all  things,”  the  power  to  forget 
enables  us  to  “  hold  fast  ”  only  “  to  that  which  is  good.” 
By  “  the  power  to  forget  ”  I  mean  the  power,  by  inat¬ 
tention,  to  render  error  and  sorrow  the  least  conspicu¬ 
ous  factors  in  our  minds  and  our  lives.  I  submit  that 
the  power  to  forget  is  among  the  most  valuable  of  man’s 
earthly  endowments,  and  that  it  is  a  conspicuous  ex¬ 
ample  of  divine  mercy  and  benevolence. 

On  the  other  hand,  postulating  a  future  life,  there  are 
many  reasons  why  the  mind  of  the  soul  should  be  en¬ 
dowed  with  a  perfect  memory,  among  the  most  obvious 
of  which  are  the  following: 

It  is  a  necessary  concomitant  of  the  soul’s  transcen- 


72  THE  EVOLUTION  OE  THE  SOUL 

dent  powers  of  intuitive  perception  or  apprehension  of 
the  laws  of  nature  and  its  infinite  powers  of  inerrant 
deduction  therefrom.  Obviously  the  purely  intellectual 
equipment  of  the  soul  would  be  incomplete  without  a 
memory  commensurate  with  its  concomitants ;  and  with 
that  endowment,  an  intellectual  entity  is  revealed  whose 
powers  are  comparable  only  to  omniscience. 

Again,  postulating  a  future  life,  the  perfect  memory 
of  the  soul  definitely  settles  another  question  of  trans¬ 
cendent  interest  and  importance  to  mankind.  The  ques¬ 
tion  whether  we  shall  retain  our  individuality  in  the 
future  life  is,  to  most  people,  the  equivalent  of  the 
question  of  immortality  itself.  Manifestly,  the  non¬ 
retention  of  personality  would  be  the  equivalent  of  anni¬ 
hilation.  The  hopes  and  doubts  of  mankind  therefore 
centre  themselves  in  that  supreme  problem,  “  If  a 
man  die  shall  he  consciously  live  again  ?  ”  That  the 
observable  phenomena  of  the  subjective  mind  afford 
abundant  affirmative  evidence  will  appear  upon  reflec¬ 
tion  that  the  retention  of  personality  or  individuality 
always  depends  upon  consciousness  and  memory.  A 
perfect  memory,  therefore,  is  demonstrative  proof  that 
the  individual  possessing  it  is  intensely  conscious  of  his 
own  personality. 

Without  presuming  to  invade  the  domains  of  the¬ 
ology,  it  may  be  said  that  the  perfect  memory  of  the  soul 
throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  question  of  future 
rewards  and  punishments.  That  is  to  say,  a  perfect 
memory  affords  an  efficient  means  by  which  rewards 
and  punishments  follow  as  a  consequence  of  deeds  done 
in  the  body,  just  as  violations  of  physical  laws  are  fol¬ 
lowed  by  consequent  punishments. 

The  memory  of  the  subjective  mind  never  has  been 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE  73 

and  never  can  be  made  available  for  the  practical 
uses  of  mankind,  for  the  reason  that,  normally,  it 
is  submerged  below  the  threshold  of  objective  con¬ 
sciousness,  and  rises  into  view  under  abnormal  condi¬ 
tions  only.  The  sporadic  cases  in  which  the  power  is 
in  evidence  serve  but  one  useful  purpose,  —  that  of 
revealing  to  man  a  knowledge  of  his  origin  and  his 
destiny. 

I  submit  that  in  the  perfect  memory  of  the  subjective 
mind  we  have  a  faculty  that  performs  no  normal  func¬ 
tion  in  this  life,  but  one  that  clearly  is  adapted  to  the 
uses  of  a  higher  plane  of  existence,  and  to  no  other. 

Thus  far  we  have  touched  upon  only  those  faculties 
of  the  soul  which  pertain  to  a  purely  intellectual  life. 
If  these  comprised  the  sum  of  the  faculties  which  con¬ 
tain  the  promise  and  potency  of  the  future  life,  mine 
would  be  a  thankless  task,  for  a  purely  intellectual  life 
would  fail  to  satisfy  the  most  intense  longings  of  the 
human  soul.  Man,  who  has  lived  and  loved  and  lost, 
longs  to  be  assured  of  a  reunion  with  those  who  have 
gone  before.  If  therefore  we  can  discover  in  the  soul 
of  man  such  faculties  as  are  essential  to  a  social  life, 
together  with  the  means  of  enjoying  both  social  and 
intellectual  intercourse,  we  shall  have  revealed  the 
essentials  of  a  perfect  manhood,  endowed  with  God-like 
powers  and  potentialities,  and  satisfied  the  highest 
aspirations  of  the  human  heart. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  true  lover  of  his  fellow-men, 
no  matter  in  what  form  his  love  may  find  expression  or 
gratification,  would  regard  as  a  boon  the  continued  con¬ 
scious  existence  of  the  soul  after  the  death  of  the  body, 
in  the  absence  of  the  assurance  that  his  alTectional 
emotions  would  find  apropriate  expression  under  the 


74  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

changed  conditions.  Indeed,  it  may  be  safely  assumed 
that  to  the  normally  constituted  man  or  woman  a  life 
without  love  would  seem  equivalent  to  annihilation. 
Few  are  so  abnormally  intellectual  as  to  be  able  to  look 
with  complacency  upon  the  prospect  of  an  eternity  of 
purely  intellectual  activity,  unrelieved  by  the  normal 
exercise  of  those  emotions  which  in  this  life  furnish  the 
only  tangible  excuse  for  being.  But  even  the  few  thus 
constituted  may  find  reasonable  ground  for  hope  in  the 
facilities  for  purely  intellectual  enjoyment  afforded  by 
the  faculties  of  the  soul  which  we  have  already  exam¬ 
ined.  Verily  they  should  have  their  reward,  and  fortu¬ 
nately  they  will  not  be  missed  from  the  social  circles 
presumable  from  the  existence  in  the  soul  of  the  pre¬ 
requisite  faculties. 

The  normal  man,  on  the  other  hand,  will  welcome  the 
assurance  that  the  subjective  mind  is  the  seat  of  the 
affectional  emotions.  This  may  startle  those  who  have 
been  taught  that  there  is  something  inherently  bad  in 
the  so-called  “  carnal  emotions  ” ;  that  they  belong  to 
the  body  and  not  to  the  soul,  and  the  only  way  to 
“  purify  ”  the  human  soul  is  to  utterly  crush  out  all  its 
salient  natural  emotions.  The  absurdity  of  this  idea 
can  best  be  appreciated  by  imagining  an  emotionless,  — 
I  will  not  say  “  human  soul,”  for  that  would  involve 
a  contradiction  in  terms,  —  but  an  emotionless  entity, 
masquerading  in  heaven  as  a  representative  of  the 
human  race.  No  sane  person  would  care  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  such  a  being,  much  less  to  be  one,  even 
under  comparatively  favorable  climatic  conditions. 

The  particular  emotion  upon  v/hich  the  greatest  stress 
is  laid  by  such  philosophers  is  what  is  called  the  “  sex¬ 
ual  ”  instinct.  They  argue  that  it  is  a  purely  bodily ' 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE  75 

function,  pertaining  solely  to  this  world,  and  conse¬ 
quently  can  have  neither  place  nor  function  in  the 
purified  human  soul.  The  fallacy  of  this  argument 
consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  based  upon  premises  fun¬ 
damentally  wrong. 

There  is,  in  point  of  fact,  no  such  instinct,  per  se, 
as  “  sexual  instinct  ”  or  emotion.  What  is  loosely  des¬ 
ignated  as  such  is,  in  its  last  analysis,  the  parental 
instinct,  the  instinct  of  reproduction.  It  has  no  other 
legitimate  use  and  it  performs  no  other  function  in  the 
economy  of  nature.  Its  perversions  alone  are  respon¬ 
sible  for  its  evils  and  its  name.  Rightly  understood, 
and  legitimately  functioned,  therefore,  it  ranks  among 
the  purest  and  holiest  emotions  of  the  human  soul.  It 
is  a  divine  heritage  from  God,  the  Father,  whose  highest 
attribute  is  parental  love.  It  is,  therefore,  in  its  very 
essence  purely  altruistic,  for  its  every  act  is  a  sacrifice 
of  self  for  the  lives  of  others,  for  the  benefit  of  future 
generations.  Beginning  with  the  primordial  germ,  it 
constitutes  the  prime  factor,  not  only  in  the  perpetuation 
of  organic  life  and  the  preservation  of  species,  but,  in  its 
last  analysis,  it  constitutes  that  “  constant  force  within,” 
which  originates  species  and  compels  the  progressive  de¬ 
velopment  alike  of  organic  life  and  of  human  civilization. 

Parental  instinct,  therefore,  is  an  emotion  of  the  soul. 
It  is  the  oldest  emotion  of  organic  life,  and  the  progen¬ 
itor  of  all  the  other  aflfectional  emotions,  —  all  others 
being  resultants  and  auxiliary  thereto.  It  is  not  of  the 
brain,  for  it  was  the  prime  factor  of  organic  life  JEons 
before  the  brain  was  evolved.  TTe  brain,  as  before 
remarked,  merely  serves  to  register  conscious  emotional 
experiences  for  the  uses  of  induction. 

The  emotions  cannot  be  classed  with  those  faculties 


76 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


which  perform  no  normal  functions  in  this  life,  for 
they  are  the  prime  factors  in  the  earthly  life  of  men 
as  well  as  of  animals.  They  are  referred  to  in  this 
connection,  first,  because  they  are  faculties  of  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind ;  secondly,  because,  with  the  intellectual 
powers  heretofore  dwelt  upon,  they  serve  to  complete  a 
personality  of  the  highest  conceivable  type,  and  thirdly, 
because  they  contain  the  promise  and  potency  of  social 
life  in  the  world  to  come. 

There  remains  for  discussion  but  one  other  mental 
faculty  necessary  to  a  perfect  enjoyment  of  such  a  social 
and  intellectual  life  as  seems  possible  to  beings  thus 
endowed,  and  that  is  a  means  for  the  interchange  of 
thought.  Without  such  facilities  the  essential  factor  of 
social  life,  as  man  can  conceive  of  it  from  his  experience, 
would  be  absent. 

Once  more  experimental  psychology  furnishes  a  con¬ 
spicuous  example  of  its  value  as  an  aid  to  the  inductive 
solution  of  the  problems  of  the  soul.  When  it  first  com¬ 
pelled  science  to  recognize  telepathy,  or  thought-trans¬ 
ference,  or  mind  reading,  as  a  power  of  the  human  mind, 
a  great  step  was  taken  toward  the  solution  of  many 
mysteries  of  psychic  phenomena.  But  when  at  length  it 
was  demonstrated  that  telepathy  is  a  power  belonging 
exclusively  to  the  subjective  mind  the  scope  of  its  powers 
to  explain  the  mysteries  of  the  soul  was  indefinitely 
enlarged  and  apparently  extended  into  a  higher  plane 
of  existence.  The  points  of  its  bearing  upon  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  a  future  life  may  be  conveniently  summarized  as 
follows:  I.  Telepathy  is  a  power  belonging  exclusively 
to  the  subjective  mind.  2.  It  is  obviously  adapted  to 
the  uses  of  disembodied  or  unembodied  intelligences. 
3.  It  performs  no  normal  function  in  this  life.  4.  It 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


77 


forms  the  missing  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  furnished 
by  other  psychic  phenomena,  of  the  existence  in  man  of 
an  entity  that  is  endowed  with  transcendent  mental 
powers  and  measureless  potentialities. 

The  first  of  the  above  propositions  has  been  again  and 
again  attested  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  arid 
others  eminent  in  psychic  science.  Its  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  a  future  life  is  manifest.  Postulating  a  soul 
in  man,  it  is  evident  that  its  mental  organism  is  the 
subjective  mind,  and  postulating  an  immortal  soul,  we 
have  a  right  to  expect  it  to  be  exclusively  endowed  with 
the  power  to  communicate  its  thoughts  to  other  immor¬ 
tal  souls,  independently  of  the  ordinary  channels  of 
sense.  And  that  is  just  what  telepathy  is.  And  that  is 
why  I  say,  in  the  second  proposition,  that  telepathy  is 
obviously  adapted  to  the  uses  of  disembodied  intelli¬ 
gences,  and  to  no  others. 

The  third  proposition  states  a  fact  that  is  palpable  to 
every  intelligent  student  of  psychic  science  who  is  fa¬ 
miliar  with  the  invariable  outcome  of  experimental  tel¬ 
epathy.  It  is  not  adapted  to  the  uses  of  this  life.  There 
are  many  reasons  for  this,  any  one  of  which  constitutes 
presumptive  evidence  of  the  future,  —  that  is,  of  uses 
elsewhere.  The  salient  reasons  are  as  follows : 

Observable  telepathic  phenomena  are  never  produced 
under  other  than  abnormal  conditions  of  the  body  and 
^of  the  objective  mind.  Not  that  telepathic  communica¬ 
tions  between  subjective  minds  may  not  be  made  under 
normal  conditions.  Indeed,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  such  communications  are  practically  con¬ 
stant  between  near  relatives  and  friends.  But  it  does 
require  abnormal  conditions  in  the  percipient  to  enable 
him  to  become  objectively  conscious  of  the  content  of 


78  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

the  message,  or  to  translate  it  into  objective  terms.  That 
is  to  say,  his  objective  mind  must  be  in  abeyance  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent;  the  vividness  of  the  impression 
^eing  proportioned  accordingly.  The  highest  manifes¬ 
tations  occur  when  the  action  of  the  brain  of  the  per¬ 
cipient  is  wholly  inhibited,  as  in  a  trance.  In  such  cases 
it  requires  the  intervention  of  a  third  person  to  make 
the  message  available  for  objective  uses.  It  follows  that 
telepathic  messages  cannot  be  made  available  for  such 
uses  under  other  than  abnormal  conditions  of  the 
percipient. 

Even  under  the  most  favorable  apparent  conditions 
a  telepathic  message  can  never  be  relied  upon  as  verid¬ 
ical,  for  the  reason  that  the  factor  of  suggestion  can 
never  be  eliminated  with  any  degree  of  certainty.  Con¬ 
sequently  every  message  that  is  transmitted  from  one 
subjective  mind  to  another  is  liable  to  be  vitiated  by  the 
false  suggestions  incident  to  this  objective  world.  This 
alone  would  render  the  faculty  worse  than  useless  for  the 
practical  purposes  of  this  life.  Obviously,  a  means  of 
communicating  intelligence  which  is  liable  to  be  falsified 
by  conditions  entirely  beyond  the  control  of  either  the 
sender  or  the  receiver  is  worse  than  useless.  The  useful¬ 
ness  of  telepathy,  therefore,  as  a  means  of  communicat¬ 
ing  thoughts  by  and  between  intelligent  entities,  depends 
upon  environmental  conditions  not  possible  on  this  plane 
of  existence.  On  the  other  hand,  telepathy  is  manifestly 
adapted  to  the  uses  of  disembodied  intelligences  who  are 
endowed  with  the  faculty  of  intuitive  apprehension  of 
all  truth  pertaining  to  their  plane  of  existence. 

I  submit  that  I  have  redeemed  my  promise  to  show 
that  the  subjective  mind  of  man  is  endowed  with  facul¬ 
ties  that  perform  no  normal  function  in  this  life.  If, 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


79 


therefore,  the  fundamental  postulate  is  true,  namely, 
that  there  is  and  can  be  no  faculty  of  mind  without  a 
function  to  perform,  either  in  this  or  in  a  higher  plane 
of  existence,  I  have  logically  demonstrated  my  thesis.  I 
have  not  only  shown  that  man  is  endowed  with  faculties 
that  perform  no  normal  function  in  this  life,  but  I  have 
shown  that  those  same  faculties  are  exactly  adapted  to 
the  uses  of  disembodied  intelligences,  and  I  have  also 
shown  that  these  faculties  exist  —  not  in  the  mental 
organism  of  which  the  brain  is  the  sole  organ  —  but  in 
a  mind  that  existed  in  potential  perfection  in  the  pri¬ 
mordial  germ,  a  mind  that  in  its  lowest  estate  exhibits 
powers  that  can  be  adequately  described  only  in  terms 
that  are  definitive  of  omniscience,  and  that,  in  its  highest 
earthly  development,  contains  the  promise  and  potency 
of  a  deathless  life. 

Moreover,  in  doing  so  I  have  not  departed  from  the 
strictest  canons  of  induction,  for  my  conclusions  have 
all  been  derived  from  the  demonstrable  facts  of  experi¬ 
mental  psychology.  I  do  not  say  that  the  argument  is 
complete,  for  I  have  selected  only  the  salient  facts  from 
a  congeries  of  phenomena  all  pointing  to  the  same 
conclusion. 

For  instance,  did  my  space  permit,  I  could  easily  point 
out  a  series  of  phenomena  which  demonstrate  that,  as 
a  fact  in  nature,  man’s  subjective  powers  are  equal  to 
the  exercise  of  an  active  force  beyond  the  limit  of  the 
bodily  powers,  thus  raising  the  presumption,  if  not 
actually  demonstrating,  that  the  soul  is  capable  of  main¬ 
taining  an  existence  and  exercising  its  powers  and 
functions  independently  of  the  bodily  organism.  Tel¬ 
epathy  is  an  illustrative  example  of  my  meaning,  as  its 
powers  are  not  circumscribed  by  space  limitations ;  and 


8o 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


telekinesis,  or  the  power  to  move  ponderable  bodies 
without  physical  contact  or  appliances,  is  demonstrative 
of  the  power  of  the  embodied  soul  to  “  exercise  an  active 
force,  directed  by  intelligence,  beyond  the  limit  of  bodily 
powers.” 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  possession  of  these  two 
powers  by  an  entity  such  as  we  have  described  raises  the 
presumption,  in  the  absence  of  proof  to  the  contrary, 
that  an  intelligent  entity  thus  endowed  is  capable  of 
surviving  the  death  of  the  body  which  it  inhabits.  Nor 
will  it  be  denied  that  this  presumption  is  vastly  rein¬ 
forced  by  the  fact  that  telekinesis  performs  no  normal 
or  useful  function  in  this  life.  Its  phenomena  are  rarely 
produced  —  never  except  under  intensely  abnormal 
conditions  and  in  pursuance  of  powerful,  though  usually 
false,  suggestions.  Nevertheless,  it  has  an  appreciable 
value  to  mankind,  in  that  it  furnishes  indubitable  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  dynamic  energy  of  the  soul,  thus  completing 
the  category  of  faculties  and  powers  essential  to  a  com¬ 
plete  and  perfect  manhood. 

In  conclusion  I  desire  to  draw  attention  to  one  con¬ 
sideration  that  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  estimating 
the  evidential  value  of  the  facts  upon  which  my  con¬ 
clusions  are  based,  and  that  is  that  all  the  facts  of  ex¬ 
perimental  ps3fchology  conspire  to  verify  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  life;  and  that  not  one  fact  of  psychology, 
physiology,  cerebral  anatomy,  or  experimental  surgery 
militates  in  the  slightest  degree  against  that  doctrine. 
In  other  words,  all  the  known  facts  of  nature  that  are 
pertinent  to  the  issue  conspire  to  prove  the  fact  of  a 
future  life.  On  the  other  hand,  each  and  all  of  the  facts 
relied  upon  by  materialistic  scientists  to  prove  that  man 
is  a  soulless  being  are  utterly  irrelevant  and  impertinent 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE  8 1 

to  the  issue  involved,  and  their  conclusions  are  rendered 
possible  only  by  purposely  and  persistently  ignoring 
all  the  demonstrable  facts  of  modern  experimental 
psychology. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  convincing  a  reader  that  the 
observable  facts  in  nature  conspire  to  invest  him  with 
the  logical  and  scientific  right  to  hope  for  a  future  life, 
the  first  question  we  shall  ask  will  be,  “  What  are  the 
conditions  of  the  future  life?”  To  this  question  it 
must  be  frankly  answered  at  the  outset.  No  one  can  tell. 

In  saying  this  I  do  not  presume  to  asseverate  that  no 
one  has  ever  known.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  endowed  as 
he  was  with  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the 
human  soul,  doubtless  knew.  But  certain  it  is  that  he 
could  not  convey  the  information  in  terms  that  could  be 
understood  by  his  followers.  At  least  he  did  not  do  so, 
and  it  must  be  presumed  that  one  whose  mission  it  was 
to  “  bring  life  and  immortality  to  light  ”  would  have 
satisfied  the  natural  curiosity  of  his  followers  on  that 
point,  if  the  conditions  were  such  as  could  be  expressed 
in  language  intelligible  to  them.  The  only  information 
which  could  be  vouchsafed  was  of  the  most  general 
character.  Thus,  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  ij 
Lazarus,  he  gives  us  to  understand  that  we  will  recog- 
nize  and  communicate  with  each  other  in  the  life  to  j  j 
come ;  that  there  will  be  a  mental  punishment  for  the  ; 
evil  deeds  done  in  this  life ;  that  our  affectional  emotions  1  i 
survive  the  death  of  the  body,  and  that  spirits  of  the  ■ 
dead  are  not  permitted  to  communicate  with  the  Imng,  : 
even  Tor  IKe  purpose  of  warning  thTm^of  the  c6hse-  A' 
qu'erices  of~sm.  But  this  is  all  of  his  recorded  utterances 
that  throws  any  light  upon  the  conditions  of  the  soul 
after  death. 


6 


82 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


,Our  conceptions  of  life  are  necessarily  all  drawn 
from  our  objective  experience,  and  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  rise  above  it.  Hence  each  one’s  conception  of 
heaven  corresponds  to  his  highest  ideal  of  a  physical 
world  provided  with  ample  facilities  for  the  enjoyment 
of  his  highest  ideal  of  pleasure,  the  central  idea  be¬ 
ing  that  heaven  is  an  idealized  earth,  differing  from 
the  latter  only  in  the  perfection  of  its  environmental 
conditions. 

Two  causes  have  conspired  to  render  this  conception 
practically  universal.  The  first  is  that  we  have  no  other 
standard  of  comparison,  and  the  second  is  the  proneness 
of  the  primitive  mind  to  reason  from  such  analogies  as 
appear  upon  the  surface,  without  stopping  to  inquire 
whether  the  analogy  is  a  legitimate  basis  of  induction. 
I  have  already  remarked  elsewhere  that  reasoning  from 
analogy  is  necessarily  a  false  method  unless  it  is  first 
shown  that  the  laws  governing  the  two  subject-matters 
are  identical,  and  I  have  cited,  as  instances  of  false 
methods.  Bishop  Butler’s  attempt  to  prove  immortality 
from  analogies  drawn  from  the  metamorphosis  of  the 
caterpillar,  and  Averroes’s  method  of  proving  the  oppo¬ 
site  by  other  analogies  equally  illegitimate.  But  the  pro¬ 
test  against  that  method  of  reasoning  cannot  be  too  often 
repeated  or  too  strongly  enforced,  for  not  only  did  the 
older  philosophers  indulge  in  it  to  the  manifest  disad¬ 
vantage  of  their  disciples,  but  it  is  still  a  favorite  method 
of  “  proving  the  unprovable  ”  among  many  so-called 
logicians. 

It  follows  that  all  the  speculations  of  all  the  philoso¬ 
phers  of  all  the  ages  regarding  the  conditions  of  the 
future  life  that  are  based  upon  the  supposed  analogies 
drawn  from  conditions  existent  in  the  physical  life  are 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


83 


worse  than  useless  in  an  inductive  examination  of  the 
subject.  Moreover,  we  know  that  when  people  under¬ 
take  to  give  us  specific  information  on  the  subject, — 
for  example,  spiritists, — they  are  simply  constructing  an 
imiaginary  spirit  land  out  of  materials  that  are  of  the 
earth,  earthy.  We  knov/  that  they  are  wrong,  because 
we  know  that  their  premises  are  false.  That  is  to  say, 
we  know  that  when  they  assume  to  construct  a  spiritual 
world  out  of  the  material  found  on  earth  they  are  rea- 
soning  from  analogies  that  are  absurdly  impossible. 
And  it  may  be  here  remarked  that  if  anything,  aside 
from  their  fundamentally  false  method  of  reasoning 
were  needed  to  convince  one  of  the  utter  absurdity  of 
the  spiritistic  claim  to  the  possession  of  specific  knowl¬ 
edge  of  conditions  in  the  other  world,  it  would  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  no  two  “  communicating  spirits  ”  agree 
as  to  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  spirit  realnij^  but 
all  agree  that  they  are  analogous  to  those  of  the  physical 
world. 

It  follows  that  spiritists  know  as  little  of  the  actual 
conditions  of  life:  in  the  other.. world  as  others,  and  that 
what  those  conditions  are,  no  one,  even  if  he  knew,  could 
tell  in  terms  comprehensible  by  mortal  man. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  no  one,  not  even  Jesus  of  Naz¬ 
areth,  has  ever  been  able  to  give  us  an  approximate 
notion  of  the  specific  conditions  of  the  future  life.  All 
that  Jesus  tells  us  is  in  general  terms.  But  it  is  a  note¬ 
worthy  fact  that  what  he  did  say  as  to  the  future  life 
accords  exactly  with  the  inductions  of  modern  science, 
it  is  also  noteworthy  that,  if  spirits  of  the  dead  com¬ 
municate  with  the  living,  Jesus  was  not  aware  of  the 
fact.  Considering  his  perfect  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  the  human  soul,  and  that  it  was  his  mission  on  earth 


I 


84 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


to  bring  life  and  immortality  to  light,  it  seems  not  a  little 
strange  that  he  should  neglect  such  an  opportunity  to 
prove  his  thesis  and  at  the  same  time  to  supply  us  with 
exact  information  regarding  the  conditions  of  the  future 
!  life.  But  it  seems,  according  to  spiritists,  that  the  hys- 
j  terical  women  and  neurotic  children  of  the  present  day 
'  know  very  much  more  about  those  conditions  than  Jesus 
I  ever  pretended  to  know.  The  utter  worthlessness  of 
their  testimony,  however,  has  already  been  shown. 

,  It  must  now  be  evident  that,  from  the  very  nature  of 
'  things,  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  man  this  side  of  the 
grave  to  know  anything  of  the  specific  conditions  or 
modes  of  existence  in  the  realm  of  disembodied  intelli¬ 
gences.  The  reasons,  I  repeat,  are,  first,  because  no 
i  inductive  analogy  can  be  drawn  from  physical  experi- 
I  ences  to  disembodied  spiritual  conditions ;  and  secondly, 

'  because  we  have  no  standard  of  comparison  outside  of 
our  physical  experiences  and  observations. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  not  left  wholly  in  the  dark  nor 
without  inductive  grounds  for  the  belief  that  the  highest 
hopes  inspired  in  the  Christian  breast  by  the  promise 
of  the  Master  will  be  more  than  realized,  for,  whilst 
logic  and  science  alike  inhibit  the  process  of  drawing 
spiritual  conclusions  from  physical  facts,  no  such  inhi¬ 
bition  extends  to  psychological  facts  and  the  conclusions 
derivable  therefrom.  On  the  contrary,  since  psychol¬ 
ogy  is  the  science  of  the  soul,  psychological  facts  are 
the  only  ones  from  which  a  legitimate  conclusion  can 
be  drawn  in  reference  to  the  status  of  the  soul  either 
in  this  or  the  future  life.  In  other  words,  conclusions 
relating  to  spiritual  conditions  which  are  derived  from 
physical  experiences  are  necessarily  wrong  for  the 
reason  that  the  laws  of  matter  and  of  spirit  are  not 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


85 


identical ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  spiritual  conclusions 
derivable  from  psychological  facts  are  necessarily  legiti-  .7^ 
mate  because  the  laws  of  mind  and  soul  in  this  world 


are  prp,siimahly{  the  same  in  the  other,  the  constancy  of 
nature  being,  of  course,  assumed.  The  difference,  if 
any  exists,  would  be  in  "Sie  "environmental  conditions 
and  consequent  modes  of  manifestation,  and  not  in  the 
fundamental  laws  themselves.  We  have,  then,  a  logical 
and  scientific  right,  according  to  the  strictest  rules  of 
inductive  inquiry,  to  draw  conclusions  relating  to  the 
status  of  the  soul  in  the  future  life  from  the  observable 
phenomena  of  the  soul  in  this  life;  for  a  psychological 
fact  is  as  much  a  fact  as  the  physical  universe. 

As"the  intelligent  reader  has  already  anticipated,  the 
conclusions  must  necessarily  be  of  a  very  general  nature, 
much  the  same  in  character  as  those  derivable  from  the 
words  of  the  Master;  but  I  hope  to  be  able  to  supply 
sufficient  data  for  all  reasonable  demands  for  inductive 
confirmation  of  the  hopes  which  the  words  of  Jesus  have 
inspired.  In  doing  so  I  shall  be  compelled  to  remind 
the  reader  of  some  of  the  fundamental  principles  and 
facts  which  have  been  set  forth  above.  For  instance,  I 
have  shown  that:  i.  There  is  and  can  be  no  faculty  of 
the  mind  without  a  function  to  perform  either  in  this  or 
some  other  plane  of  existence.  2.  That  the  subjective  \  ^ 
mind  is  endowed  with  faculties  that  perform  no  normal  I  ■ 
function  in  this,  life.  And  I  have  drawn  the  conclusion 
that  such  faculties  must  find  their  legitimate  field  of 
activity  in  the  future  life,  especially  since  some  of  them 
are  obviously  adapted  to  a  disembodied  existence,  and 
to  no  other.  I  have  also  shown  that  all  of  the  faculties 
of  the  subjective  mind  are  adapted  to  a  disembodied 
existence,  albeit  some  of  them  are  shared  by  the  objec- 


86 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


tive  intelligence,  and  that,  in  the  aggregate,  the  faculties 
and  powers  of  the  subjective  mind,  or  soul,  comprise 
a  complete  and  perfect  manhood,  endowed  with  God¬ 
like  atributes,  powers,  and  potentialities. 

I  have  also  shown  that  among  those  powers  are: 
I.  A  perfect  memory,  which  insures  the  retention  of 
personality  and  the  recognition  of  one’s  friends.  2. 
Telepathy,  which  constitutes  a  means  of  interchange  of 
thought  with  others.  3.  The  affectional  emotions, 
which  promise  a  renewed  life  of  love  and  affection  with 
our  kindred  and  friends,  as  well  as  a  capacity  for  form¬ 
ing  new  ties  of  love  and  friendship. 

Now  the  best  way  of  determining  what  a  man  will 
do  under  favoring  conditions  is  to  ascertain  what  he 
can  do.  In  other  words,  it  may  always  be  safely  pre¬ 
dicted  that  one’s  mental  faculties  will  find  active  em¬ 
ployment  in  a  favoring  environment.  Under  this  rule 
we  know  that  man,  in  the  future  life,  will  retain  his 
personality,  recognize  his  friends,  and  enjoy  a  social 
existence,  because  we  know  that  his  soul  is  endowed 
with  all  the  faculties  necessary  for  that  purpose. 

A  purely  social  life,  however,  would  come  far  short 
of  a  realization  of  the  Christian’s  conception  of  heaven, 
although  it  may  be  included  in  it.  The  central  idea  of 
the  popular  Christian  conception  is  that  heaven  is  a 
place  in  which  the  redeemed  are  perpetually  engaged  in 
worshipping  and  praising  God  and  in  the  contemplation 
of  his  glories.  As  popularly  conceived  it  is  of  course 
purely  anthropomorphic,  and  as  such  it  has  been  a 
standing  subject  of  atheistic  ridicule  from  time  imme¬ 
morial.  Nevertheless,  divested  of  its  anthropomorphism, 
it  would  seem  to  be  based  upon  a  fundamental  truth. 

The  fatal  objection  to  the  popular  conception  of  the 
status  and  occupations  of  the  soul  in  the  future  life  may 


SCIENCE  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 


87 


be  summed  up  in  the  one  word  “  monotony.”  An  intel¬ 
ligent  man  would  prefer  annihilation  to  an  eternity  of 
singing,  playing  on  a  harp,  or  even  of  perpetual  wor¬ 
ship,  in  the  popular  sense  of  the  term.  Even  the  social 
life  which  is  promised  would  become  monotonous  in  the 
absence  of  any  rational  occupation. 

There  are  several  phenomena,  observable  in  this  life, 
which  bear  upon  the  question:  i.  The  history  of  mind 
and  soul  in  this  life  is  one  of  continuous  progressive 
development,  from  the  moneron  to  man.  2.  The  lines 
upon  which  the  greatest  progress  is  made  in  the  acqui¬ 
sition  of  knowledge,  or  the  development  of  the  intel¬ 
lectual  powers,  is  in  the  ascertainment  of  first  principles 
or  laws  of  nature.  3.  The  greatest  good  to  each  sentient 
creature  results  from  the  discovery  of  the  natural  laws 
pertaining  to  its  being.  This  is  as  true  of  the  lower 
animals  as  it  is  of  man.  4.  The  more  profound  intel¬ 
lectual  joy  which  man  is  capable  of  experiencing  in  this 
life  results  from  the  discovery  of  a  law  of  nature.  This 
is  true,  whether  the  discovery  is  the  result  of  induction 
or  of  intuition.  Space  forbids  the  discussion  of  these 
propositions  at  length.  Nor  is  it  necessary,  for  they  are 
self-evident  to  every  man  of  ordinary  intelligence.  Let 
us  apply  them  to  the  question  under  consideration. 

The  first  is  the  most  important,  for  its  application 
involves  all  the  others.  We  all  know  that  the  history 
of  mind  on  this  planet  is  one  of  continuous  evolutionary 
development.  Reasoning  from  analogy  —  which  we  ! 
have  a  right  to  do  in  this  case,  since  the  laws  are  ’ 
identical  —  we  must  suppose  that  progressive,  intellec-  ! 
tual  development  is  as  much  a  law  of  mind  in  the  future  ; 
life  as  it  is  in  this.  If  the  soul  survives  the  death  of  ; 
the  body  it  follows  that  it  will  exercise  whatever  powers 
it  may  possess. 


88 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


The  only  question,  then,  is,  whether  the  soul  is  in¬ 
vested  with  the  intellectual  powers  requisite  for  pro¬ 
gressive  development.  This  question  has  already  been 
answered  in  the  discussions  of  the  intuitive  powers  of 
the  soul  —  the  power  of  immediate  apprehension  of  law, 
antecedent  to  and  independent  of  reason,  experience, 
or  instruction.  Endowed  with  such  a  power,  progressive 
development  is  a  necessary  law  of  its  being. 

Moreover,  unlike  the  popular  conception  of  heavenly 
joys,  they  will  be  rational,  continuous  without  monotony, 
and  commensurate  with  the  dignity  of  manhood  and 
the  God-like  attributes  and  powers  of  the  human  soul. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Christian’s  conception  of  a 
continuous  worship  and  adoration  of  the  Father  will  be 
more  than  justified;  for  nothing  is  so  well  calculated 
to  inspire  such  feelings  as  the  discovery  of  his  laws, 
and  the  consequent  realization  of  the  divine  harmonies 
of  the  universe. 

I  submit  that  this  is  all  that  man  needs  to  know 
regarding  the  conditions  of  the  future  life.  It  will  not 
f  satisfy  the  morbid  curiosity  of  those  who  insist  on 
7-  knowing Jhe  unknowable,  fathoming  the  unfathomable, 
/  or  scrutinizing  the  inscrutable.  They  must  be  referred 
to  those  whose  perfervid  imaginations  are  capable  of 
“  bodying  forth  the  forms  of  things  unknown  and  giving 
to  airy  nothing  a  local  habitation  and  a  name.”  But 
that  quality  of  mind  is  not  useful  in  an  inductive  investi¬ 
gation  of  the  problems  of  science.  Facts  are  the  only 
sources  of  just  conclusions.  They  may  be  few  in  num¬ 
ber,  as  in  this  case ;  but  one  clearly  authenticated  fact 
is  worth  more  to  science  than  all  the  speculative  philoso¬ 
phy  of  the  universe. 


Ill 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


COMMON  SENSE  teaches  us,  and  all  human 
experience  demonstrates,  that  it  is  a  waste  of 
time  and  energy  to  argue  a  question  in  con¬ 
troversy,  or  to  present  proofs  on  either  side,  before  the 
vital  issue  has  been  clearly  defined,  and  that  this  can 
be  done  only  by  a  logical  process  of  exclusion,  or 
elimination,  of  all  irrelevant  side  issues.  Students  of 
English  common  law  jurisprudence  understand  this  pro¬ 
cess  better  than  any  other  class  of  controversialists,  for, 
in  the  evolution  of  the  system  of  practice  in  common 
law  courts,  the  process  has  been  reduced  to  a  science. 
The  “  pleadings  ”  in  a  case  at  law  are  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  steps  taken  in  the  logical  process  of  elimi¬ 
nating  extraneous  or  irrelevant  matter,  for  the  purpose 
of  clearly  defining  the  issue  between  the  parties  litigant, 
and  thus  determining  the  nature  of  the  evidence  ad¬ 
missible  on  either  side.  Thus,  A  sues  B  for  trespassing 
upon  the  property  of  A  by  passing  over  it  in  going  to 
and  from  the  house  of  B.  The  latter  may  answer  the 
complaint  of  A  by  admitting  the  act  complained  of, 
but  pleading  that  he  has  a  right  of  way  over  the  property 
granted  by  A  in  a  deed  for  that  purpose.  To  this  A 
may  answer  that  he  admits  that  B  has  a  certain  paper 
purporting  to  be  a  deed  for  a  right  of  way  over  the  land. 


90 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


but  may  allege  that  said  paper  was  drawn  and  signed 
by  a  third  party,  as  his  agent,  when,  in  fact,  the  latter 
had  no  authority  to  act  as  such  agent  in  matters  affecting 
real  estate  titles.  B  may  then  admit  that  the  deed  in 
question  was  made  by  C  as  agent  for  A,  but  allege  that 
C  was  in  possession  of  full  authority  to  act  for  A  in 
matters  affecting  the  title  to  real  estate.  The  latter 
allegation  directly  traverses  that  of  A,  who  avers  that  C 
had  no  authority  sufficient  to  bind  his  principal  in  real 
estate  transactions;  and  thus  the  issue  is  joined.  The 
merits  of  the  case  centre  in  the  question  of  C’s  authority 
to  bind  his  principal,  and  this  may  be  a  purely  legal 
question  which  the  judge  can  decide. 

This  is  a  crude  but  simple  illustration  of  the  logical 
methods  by  which  courts  of  common  law  eliminate, 
step  by  step,  all  irrelevant  side  issues,  and  bring  the 
parties  litigant  at  once  to  a  discussion  of  the  real  and 
only  vital  questions  involved.  Thus,  in  the  case  sup¬ 
posed,  neither  proofs  nor  argument  were  required  at 
any  step  in  the  proceedings  until  the  vital  issue  was 
developed  by  the  process  of  exclusion ;  and  what  seemed 
at  first  to  be  a  plain  case  of  one  man  flagrantly  violating 
the  rights  of  another  turns  out  to  be  a  question  as  to 
the  validity  in  law  of  the  acts  of  a  third  party. 

Unfortunately,  polemists,  that  is  to  say,  those  of 
them  who  have  the  public  mind  and  conscience  in  their 
especial  keeping  in  matters  of  religious  and  philosophical 
controversy,  cannot  be  compelled  to  be  logical,  or  to 
define  an  issue,  or  to  confine  themselves  to  its  discussion 
when  it  is  defined.  If  they  could,  about  ninety-nine 
per  cent  of  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  various 
subjects  of  popular  controversy  would  never  have  seen 
the  light.  This  is  true  of  many  subjects  of  public  dis- 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS  9 1 

putation,  but  it  is  especially  true  of  spiritism,  and  it  is 
as  true  of  one  side  as  of  the  other  of  that  question. 

Thus  many  years  of  time  and  oceans  of  ink  have  been 
wasted  in  the  discussion  of  the  physical  phenomena  of 
spiritism,  such  as  table-tipping,  levitation,  slate-writing, 
et  cetera,  each  side  taking  it  for  granted  that  the  whole 
question  of  spiritism  could  be  settled  forever  by  proving, 
on  the  one  hand,  or  disproving  on  the  other,  the  super¬ 
normal  character  of  the  phenomena.  During  nearly  half 
a  century  the  evidence  for  spiritism  was  practically  con¬ 
fined  to  that  class  of  phenomena.  If  a  table  was  levi¬ 
tated  without  physical  contact  or  mechanical  appliances, 
spiritists  proclaimed  and  believed  it  to  be  demonstrative 
proof  that  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the 
living.  Nor  was  this  estimate  of  evidential  values  con¬ 
fined  to  the  rank  and  file  of  spiritists.  Learned  pro¬ 
fessors,  doctors,  and  even  lawyers,  were  carried  off 
their  logical  feet  by  seeing  tables  lifted  into  the  air  and 
chairs  carried  about  the  room  by  invisible  hands. 

Thus  the  late  Dr.  Hare  of  Philadelphia,  emeritus 
professor  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  fell  an  easy  victim  to  that  species  of  logic  in  the 
early  days  of  spiritism.  Commencing  his  investigations 
as  a  skeptic,  he  constructed  several  ingenious  machines 
by  which  he  was  able  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of 
a  force  in  man  capable  of  moving  ponderable  bodies 
without  physical  contact  (telekinesis),  and  then  he  im¬ 
mediately  rushed  into  print  with  a  book  entitled  Spirit¬ 
ualism  Scientifically  Demonstrated.  That  Professor 
Hare  should  fall  into  such  an  error  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  in  his  day  no  other  than  the 
spiritistic  hypothesis  had  been  seriously  advanced  to 
account  for  the  facts.  Besides,  scientists  in  those  days 


92 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


generally  contented  themselves  by  simply  denying  the 
existence  of  the  phenomena  and  refusing  to  investigate, 
which  was  a  tacit  admission  that  if  the  phenomena  were 
true  the  spiritistic  explanation  followed.  The  result  was 
that  those  who  did  investigate  and  verified  the  phe¬ 
nomena  naturally  felt  justified  in  accepting  the  only 
explanation  offered.  It  followed  as  a  natural  conse¬ 
quence  that  the  great  body  of  spiritists  believed,  and 
they  still  believe,  that  the  claims  of  spiritism  are  demon¬ 
strated  to  be  true  by  the  phenomena  of  telekinesis. 

Nor  is  it  at  all  strange  that  the  rank  and  file  should 
so  believe  since  they  have  such  modern  examples  as 
are  found  in  the  attitude  of  such  scientists  as  Alfred 
Russell  Wallace  and  Sir  William  Crookes.  Each  of 
these  eminent  savants  verified  the  physical  phenomena 
of  spiritism,  especially  telekinesis,  by  indubitable  tests, 
and  each  ended  by  declaring  himself  a  convert  to  spirit¬ 
ism.  No  one  can  doubt  the  ability  of  either  of  these 
gentlemen  to  make  correct  observations  of  facts  when 
conducting  a  scientific  investigation,  for  they  were  both 
trained  in  the  strictest  schools  of  scientific  inquiry.  So, 
when  they  tell  us  that  they  have  verified  the  fact  that 
ponderable  bodies  can  be  moved  without  physical  con¬ 
tact,  and  describe  and  illustrate  the  process  of  verifi¬ 
cation,  we  are  bound  to  believe  them.  But  when  they 
assume  to  draw  conclusions  from  those  facts,  their 
reputation  for  habits  of  close  scientific  observation  of 
mere  phenomena  no  longer  commands  confidence ;  for 
it  is  one  thing  to  be  a  close  observer  of  facts  and  quite 
a  different  thing  to  be  able  to  draw  a  correct  conclusion 
from  those  facts.  In  other  words,  it  does  not  neces¬ 
sarily  follow  that  a  scientist  is  also  a  logician.  In  point 
of  fact  it  often  happens  that  the  closest  and  most  minute 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


93 


observers  of  facts  are  the  least  competent  to  formulate 
from  them  a  correct  generalization,  or  to  estimate  their 
evidential  value.  A  striking  example  is  found  in  Sir  \ 
William  Crookes  in  his  treatment  of  psychic  phenomena  | 
in  general,  and  telekinesis  in  particular,  and  the  example  , 
becomes  still  more  striking  when  his  conclusions  are  I 
contrasted  with  those  of  his  collaborators,  Serjeant  ! 
Edward  W.  Cox  and  Dr.  Huggins,  F.  R.  S.,  in  whose  ! 
presence  the  tests  were  made.  ^ 

Professor  Crookes,  the  scientist,  eminent  as  the  dis¬ 
coverer  of  a  new  metal,  and  as  having  rendered 
possible  the  discovery  of  the  Roentgen  rays,  devised 
the  instruments  of  precision  by  which  telekinesis  was 
demonstrated,  made  the  experiments  and  became  a 
spiritualist.  Serjeant  Cox,  an  eminent  lawyer,  skilled  ! 
in  logic,  practised  in  the  art  of  testing  truth,  detecting  ; 
falsehood,  and  estimating  evidential  values,  observed  the 
same  facts,  and  found  that  they  excluded  spiritism  as  ; 
a  factor  in  the  case.  They  both  agreed,  however,  that  i 
their  experiments  demonstrated  the  e.xistence  in  man  of 
a  hitherto  unrecognized  force,  which  they  agreed  in 
designating  as  “  psychic  force  ”  —  “a  force  emanating 
from,  or  in  some  manner  directly  dependent  on,  the 
human  organization.”  In  this  they  both  agreed,  al¬ 
though  they  ultimately  disagreed  as  to  whether  the  co¬ 
operation  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead  was  necessary  to 
set  the  force  in  motion.  Serjeant  Cox  mentioned  j 
eighteen  characteristics  of  the  phenomena  as  developed  ; 
in  the  experiments  made  in  his  presence,  each  of  which 
was  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  spiritistic  theory.  Pro¬ 
fessor  Crookes,  on  the  other  hand,  ultimately  concluded 
that  the  spiritistic  theory  was  the  only  tenable  one.  I  do 
not  say  that  this  particular  series  of  experiments  con- 


94 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


verted  him  to  spiritism,  but  I  do  say  that  in  all  his 
public  utterances  on  the  subject  there  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  to  show  that  his  conversion  was  brought  about 
by  the  observation  of  any  other  than  the  purely  physical 
phenomena  of  spiritism.  And  it  is  against  the  accep¬ 
tance  of  this  character  and  quality  of  evidence  for 
spiritism  that  I  protest  in  the  name  of  outraged  science, 
logic,  and  reason.  Why? 

1.  Because  the  existence  of  a  “psychic  force,”  in¬ 
herent  in  the  human  organism,  a  force  capable  of  levi¬ 
tating  heavy  tables  or  other  ponderable  bodies  without 
physical  contact,  is  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the 

)  purely  physical  phenomena  of  spiritism.  Obviously  a 
:  physical  force  that  is  great  enough  to  lift  a  table  is  great 
I  enough  to  produce  any  of  the  minor  physical  phe- 
j  nomena,  such  as  slate-writing,  et  cetera.  In  either  case 
■  the  force  is  guided  by  intelligence  —  presumably  that 
of  the  medium  —  until  the  contrary  is  shown  by  com¬ 
petent  evidence. 

2.  There  is  nothing  in  the  purely  physical  phenomena 
of  spiritism  that  proves  or  disproves  the  spiritistic  hy¬ 
pothesis.  The  proof  of  the  existence  of  psychic  force, 
however,  does,  as  Serjeant  Cox  justly  remarks,  “  shake 
to  its  foundation  the  materialism  of  modern  science  by 
the  probability  it  raises  that,  as  a  fact  in  nature,  there 
is  in  us  an  entity,  distinct  from  the  corporeal  structure, 
which  can  exercise  an  active  force,  directed  by  intelli¬ 
gence,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  bodily  powers.”  He 
might  have  added  that  it  also  raises  the  presumption  that 
this  intelligent  entity  survives  the  dissolution  of  the 
body,  and  that,  therefore,  spirits  do  exist  beyond  the 
grave.  This  much,  in  all  candor,  must  be  conceded  to 
spiritism.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  create  a  presumption 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


95 


in  favor  of  a  life  after  death,  and  quite  another  to  prove 
that  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  messages  to  the 
living  through  mediums. 

And  this  is  the  crucial  question  raised  by  spiritism: 
Do  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the  living 
through  mediums  ? 

This  is  the  issue,  and  the  only  question  which  we  are 
called  upon  to  consider,  and  no  phenomenon  which 
does  not  throw  light  upon  this  question  can  be  accepted 
as  possessing  any  evidential  value  whatever.  All  the 
physical  phenomena,  such  as  table-tipping,  slate-writing, 
et  cetera,  must  therefore  be  thrown  out  of  court,  for  the 
following  reasons : 

1.  The  only  evidence  which  can  possibly  prove  the 
affirmative  of  the  issue  is  that  which  will  demonstrate  . 
the  personal  identity  of  the  alleged  communicating 
spirit. 

2.  The  only  possible  way  that  personal  identity  can 
be  established  by  an  alleged  spirit  is  by  the  communi¬ 
cation  of  personal  intelligence. 

3.  It  is  therefore  the  character  and  contents  of  the 
messages  received  from  alleged  spirits  that  must  deter¬ 
mine  their  genuineness. 

4.  Obviously,  the  levitation  of  tables  affords  no 
assistance  in  the  analysis  of  the  content  of  a  message. 

Nor  can  any  other  physical  phenomenon  throw  the 
faintest  possible  light  upon  the  question  of  personal 
identity,  and,  pending  the  settlement  of  that  question 
by  other  forms  of  evidence,  physical  phenomena  are 
logically  valueless  to  spiritism  from  an  evidential  point 
of  view.  They  prove  nothing  but  the  existence  of  a 
psychic  force  inherent  in  the  vital  organism  of  the 
living  man.  It  is  true  that  messages,  purporting  to 


96 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


come  from  spirits  of  the  dead,  are  delivered  by  means 
of  physical  manifestations.  But  their  evidential  value 
rests  entirely  with  their  contents,  and  not  in  the  methods 
employed  in  their  delivery. 

It  follows  that  we  may  safely  admit  all  that  the  most 
ardent  spiritist  claims  in  regard  to  the  purely  physical 
phenomena;  for  it  may  be  all  genuine,  or  it  may  be  all 
fraudulent,  without  in  the  least  affecting  the  crucial 
question;  Do  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the 
living  through  mediums? 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  one  of  the  supposed  evidential 
strongholds  of  spiritism  vanishes  the  moment  the  logical 
rule  excluding  side  issues  of  no  evidential  importance 
is  applied. 

The  fact  remains  that  there  are  many  phenomena 
bearing  directly  upon  the  question  of  personal  identity, 
which,  unexplained,  possess  great  evidential  value  in 
favor  of  spiritism.  Moreover,  it  must  be  said  in  behalf 
of  the  great  body  of  spiritists,  that  the  valid  explanations 
of  the  phenomena  which  converted  them  are  the  result  of 
scientific  discoveries  of  a  comparatively  recent  date. 

Thus  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  urged  by  them  of 
personal  identity  was  the  fact  thdt  mediums  of  unim¬ 
peachable  character  thoroughly  believed  in  the  genuine¬ 
ness  of  their  own  trance  utterances  when  they  declared 
themselves  to  be  under  the  control  of  certain  spirits. 
And  when  to  this  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the 
medium  was  added  the  fact  that  he  often  personated  the 
alleged  spirit  with  marvellous  fidelity  to  the  known 
character  of  the  spirit,  the  evidence  of  personal  identity 
was  deemed  complete.  Voice,  gestures,  bearing,  and 
personal  idiosyncrasies  were,  in  fact,  often  so  perfectly 
reproduced  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  wit- 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


97 


nesses  of  the  identity  of  the  alleged  spirit.  Moreover, 
this  was  frequently  done  by  mediums  who  had  never 
been  suspected  of  possessing  any  histrionic  ability  Vvrhat- 
ever  in  their  normal  condition. 

But  when  hypnotism  came  to  be  studied  as  a  science, 
and  the  law  of  suggestion  was  discovered,  it  at  once 
became  evident  that  this  marvellous  dramatic  play  of 
personality  possessed  no  evidential  value  whatever  as 
tending  to  prove  the  identity  of  an  alleged  spirit.  And 
this  conviction  became  a  certainty  when  the  law  of 
mental  duality  was  formulated.  The  points  bearing 
upon  the  case  may  be  briefly  stated  as  follows : 

1.  The  so-called  spirit  medium,  in  the  trance  con¬ 
dition,  is  simply  self-hypnotized,  and  is  consequently 
subject  to  all  the  conditions  and  governed  by  all  the  laws 
pertaining  to  hypnotism.  That  is  to  say,  the  objective, 
or  reasoning  mind,  is  in  abeyance  and  the  subjective 
mind  is  in  control. 

2.  The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to 
control  by  suggestion.  That  is  to  say,  it  accepts  as  true 
every  suggestion  or  statement  that  is  made  to  it,  and  it 
carries  every  suggestion,  true  or  false,  to  its  legitimate 
conclusion. 

Thus,  if  the  suggestion  is  made  to  a  hypnotized  sub¬ 
ject  that  he  is  a  dog,  he  will  act  the  part  suggested  just 
as  perfectly  as  it  is  physically  possible,  firmly  believing 
for  the  time  being  that  he  is  a  dog.  The  same  is  true  of 
every  possible  suggested  change  of  personality.  Every¬ 
body  knows  how  perfectly  a  hypnotized  subject  will 
personate  any  suggested  character,  high  or  low,  good, 
bad,  or  indifferent.  Nor  can  any  one  fail  to  correlate 
the  phenomena  with  those  of  spiritism  when  a  spirit  is 
suggested  as  being  in  possession  of  the  medium.  The 

7 


98  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

psychological  conditions  are  identical;  and  if  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  of  the  medium  did  not  respond  to  the 
suggestion  and  act  accordingly  it  would  argue  an  excep¬ 
tion  to  a  universal  law  of  nature. 

But,  it  has  been  objected,  the  medium  is  not  always 
in  the  trance  or  hypnotic  state.  On  the  contrary,  he  is 
as  often  perfectly  conscious  when  he  is  performing  his 
best  work.  Granted.  But  so  much  the  stronger  is  the 
case  for  suggestion,  for,  from  his  standpoint,  so  much 
the  firmer  are  his  grounds  for  belief.  A  medium  is 
usually  one  who,  from  his  youth  up,  has  been  reared  in 
an  atmosphere  of  spiritism.  His  whole  mental  environ¬ 
ment,  therefore,  constitutes  a  perpetual  suggestion 
favorable  to  spiritism.  He  trains  himself  for  medium- 
ship  because  he  believes,  and  he  confidently  expects  that 
spirits  of  the  dead  will  take  possession  of  his  organism 
and  do  things.  In  due  time  his  hopes  are  realized.  He 
becomes  conscious  of  an  influence  at  work  within  his 
organism  which  manifests  intelligence  and  powers  of 
which  he  is  not  the  conscious  possessor.  He  knows 
nothing  of  the  new  psychology,  and  is  most  likely  un¬ 
aware  that  there  ever  was  an  old  one.  He  knows  noth¬ 
ing  of  the  dual  mind,  and  probably  has  every  reason  to 
doubt  whether  he  has  even  one  mind  —  of  his  own.  In 
short,  from  his  intellectual  view-point,  he  has  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  intelligence  and  power  thus 
strangely  manifested  is  extraneous  to  himself.  This,  of 
course,  constitutes  the  strongest  possible  suggestion  to 
his  subjective  mind  that  it  is  a  foreign  intelligence,  and 
that  the  suggestion  should  be  accepted  and  dramatically 
carried  to  its  legitimate  conclusion  is  in  strict  accord¬ 
ance  with  what  we  should  have  a  right  to  expect  from 
what  science  has  learned  of  the  law  of  suggestion 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


99 


through  experimental  hypnotism.  In  fact,  the  spiritistic 
suggestion  is  infinitely  stronger  and  more  likely  to  be 
fully  accepted  and  promptly  executed  than  the  other, 
for  the  obvious  reason  that  the  medium  believes,  both 
objectively  and  subjectively,  in  the  truth  of  the  sug¬ 
gestion,  whereas  the  hypnotized  subject  objectively 
knows  that  the  experimental  suggestions  are  false  to  the 
point  of  absurdity.  Nevertheless,  so  potent  is  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  suggestion  over  the  subjective  mind,  in  either 
case,  that  it  is  compelled  by  the  fundamental  law  of  its 
being  to  believe  whatever  suggestion  is  imparted  to  it, 
and  to  dramatically  carry  it  to  its  legitimate  conclusion 
by  acts  and  words  corresponding  to  the  central  thought 
embraced  in  the  suggestion. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  personal  identity  cannot 
be  predicated  upon  either  the  personal  honesty  or  the 
convictions  of  the  medium,  or  upon  his  dramatic  person¬ 
ation  of  the  suggested  personality.  And  thus  does  an¬ 
other  supposed  evidential  stronghold  of  spiritism  utterly 
vanish  in  presence  of  the  demonstrated  facts  of  modem 
science. 

We  may,  therefore,  admit  all  that  the  most  pro¬ 
nounced  spiritist  may  choose  to  claim  in  favor  of  the 
honesty  of  mediums,  or  in  regard  to  their  wonderful 
ability  to  personate  particular  spirits,  since  neither  fact 
possesses  the  slightest  evidential  value  in  view  of  the 
well-known  facts  of  experimental  hypnotism. 

It  now  remains  to  consider  those  phenomena  of  so- 
called  spiritism  which  have  a  possible  evidential  value, 
namely,  the  alleged  messages  from  the  spirits  of  the 
dead.  Before  proceeding  with  the  discussion  I  wish  to 
remind  the  logical  reader  again,  first,  that  no  evidence 
can  be  of  any  possible  value  except  that  which  proves, 


lOO 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


or  tends  to  prove,  the  personal  identity  of  the  alleged 
communicator  from  the  other  world;  and,  secondly, 
that  the  only  possible  means  by  which  personal  identity 
can  be  proved  is  by  the  communication  of  personal 
intelligence. 

It  should  also  be  remarked  at  the  outset  that  the  per¬ 
sonal  intelligence  communicated  must  be  such  as  to 
exclude  any  rational  doubt  as  to  its  source.  That  is  to 
say,  the  evidence  for  personal  identity  of  an  alleged 
communicating  spirit  should  be  so  clear  and  conclusive 
as  to  exclude  any  possible  explanation  based  on  mun¬ 
dane  causes  known  to  exist.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
for  a  moment  that  the  contest  between  spiritism  and  its 
opponents  is  a  contest  between  supermundane  and  mun¬ 
dane  theories  of  causation,  with  all  the  presumptions, 
logical  and  scientific,  against  the  supermundane.  Nor 
must  the  logical  axiom  be  lost  sight  of  which  forbids  us 
to  refer  any  phenomenon  to  a  supermundane  cause  so 
long  as  it  is  explicable  under  known  natural  or  mundane 
causes.  Another  axiom  of  science  of  equal  pertinence 
is  that  we  must  never  explain  the  unknown  by  that 
which  is  still  more  unknown. 

If  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  these  time-honored 
axioms  or  rules  of  scientific  investigation  he  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
no  valid  evidence  whatever  in  so-called  spiritistic  phe¬ 
nomena  that  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the 
living  through  mediums. 

As  before  remarked,  this  is  the  main  issue  to  be  de¬ 
cided  :  Do  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the  liv¬ 
ing  through  mediums?  The  subsidiary  issues  pertain 
to  the  validity  of  the  evidence  now  offered  in  proof  of 
the  personal  identity  of  the  alleged  communicating 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


lOI 


spirits ;  and  no  scientific  polemist  on  either  side  now  pre¬ 
tends  to  discuss  any  other  question,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  the  whole  question  of  spirit  communion  now  hinges 
upon  the  validity  of  that  evidence.  And  it  is  freely  ad¬ 
mitted  that  if  the  alleged  communications  are  to  be 
taken  at  their  face  value,  the  question  has  been  settled 
over  and  over  again  in  favor  of  the  spiritistic  hypothesis. 
The  admitted  facts  in  the  case  may  be  briefly  stated  as 
follows : 

Certain  highly  endowed  psychics,  or  so-called  “  me¬ 
diums,”  such  as  Mrs.  Piper  of  Boston  and  many  others, 
have  repeatedly  demonstrated  the  fact  that  when  in  the 
subjective  or  trance  condition  in  a  spiritistic  circle  they 
evince  a  knowledge  of  the  sitters’  affairs  that  they  could 
not  possibly  have  obtained  by  any  normal  means.  This 
knowledge,  of  course,  came  to  light  in  the  guise  of 
communications  from  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  it  often 
extended  to  the  affairs  of  the  alleged  communicators  as 
well  as  to  those  of  their  living  friends  in  the  circle.  So 
minute  and  complete  and  circumstantial  was  this  knowl¬ 
edge  that  it  often  left  no  room  for  doubt  in  the  minds 
of  sitters  of  the  personal  identity  of  the  alleged 
spirit. 

But  when  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  dem¬ 
onstrated  the  fact  that  thought-transference,  or  tele¬ 
pathy,  is  a  power  of  the  human  mind,  and  that  it  was 
most  easily  developed  in  persons  in  the  subjective  state, 
it  at  once  became  evident  that  telepathy  afforded  a  com¬ 
plete  explanation  of  much  that  was  before  mysterious 
and  inexplicable.  The  result  has  been  to  narrow  the 
issue  between  spiritists  and  their  opponents  so  that  now 
but  two  theories  are  the  subjects  of  controversy,  namely, 
the  spiritistic  and  the  telepathic.  And  it  is  now  admitted 


102 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


by  all  who  pretend  to  discuss  the  subject  from  a  scien¬ 
tific  point  of  view  that  the  possession  of  supernormally 
acquired  knowledge  by  a  spirit  medium  possesses  no 
evidential  value  for  spiritism  where  telepathy  cannot  be 
eliminated  as  a  possible  factor. 

In  order,  however,  to  give  the  reader  a  clear  idea  of 
the  present  status  of  the  question  it  will  be  expedient  to 
continue  to  treat  the  subject  historically,  to  the  end  that 
I  may  present  a  continuous  series  of  steps  showing  how 
a  gradually  increasing  knowledge  of  nature’s  laws  and 
forces  has,  step  by  step,  relegated  the  evidential  strong¬ 
holds  of  spiritism  to  a  state  of  harmless  disuse. 

Telepathy,  as  a  possible  factor  in  spiritistic  phenom¬ 
ena,  was  urged  many  years  before  the  Society  for  Psy¬ 
chical  Research  had  an  existence.  The  old  mesmerists 
had  demonstrated  it  as  a  power  of  the  human  mind 
long  before  the  “  Rochester  knockings  ”  disturbed  the 
serenity  of  the  Fox  family.  Modern  spiritism  was,  in 
fact,  the  psychological  substitute  of  mesmerism,  as  I 
have  pointed  out  elsewhere  (see  The  Era  magazine  for 
February,  1902),  and  it  could  never  have  obtained  the 
foothold  it  has  but  for  the  mediumistic  material  found 
in  the  thousands  of  psychics  already  developed  by 
mesmerism.  And  when  it  is  remembered  that  nine  out 
of  ten  of  mesmeric  psychics  were  trained  telepathists, 
it  will  be  seen  that  spiritism  fell  on  fruitful  soil.  Nat¬ 
urally  its  opponents  were  instant  in  correlating  the  two 
classes  of  phenomena,  and  in  insisting  that  telepathy 
must  be  held  to  afford  a  valid  explanation  of  all  that 
was  in  the  mind  of  the  sitter,  or  of  any  one  present  at 
the  seance.  Fair-minded  men  on  all  sides  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  agreed  that  this  proposition  was  necessarily  true; 
and  thus  the  first  step  was  taken  in  the  direction  of 


MAJV’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


103 


affording  a  scientific  explanation  of  the  supernormally 
acquired  knowledge  admittedly  in  the  possession  of  the 
medium.  A  portion,  at  least,  of  that  knowledge  was 
due  to  a  known  natural  cause,  and  the  supermundane 
explanation  was,  in  a  corresponding  degree,  relegated 
to  the  background. 

But  spiritists  soon  proceeded  to  show  that  mediums 
sometimes  told  things  that  (a)  the  sitter  was  not  think¬ 
ing  of  at  the  time,  and  (b)  things  that  he  might  have 
once  known  but  had  entirely  forgotten.  This  was  so 
often  demonstrated  that  the  advocates  of  the  telepathic 
theory  were  confounded ;  for  they  had  no  answer  to  the 
triumphant  question  of  spiritism.  How  could  it  be  mind 
reading,  when  the  subject  was  not  in  the  mind  of  the 
sitter,  or  had  been  completely  forgotten?  Needless 
to  say  spiritism  scored  a  triumph  which  lasted  many 
years. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  was  organized  and  instituted  an  exhaustive 
investigation  of  telepathy  and  other  kindred  phenomena ; 
the  dual  mind  theory  was  formulated,  and  a  clear  line 
of  demarcation  was  shown  to  exist  between  the  mind 
of  ordinary  waking  consciousness,  or  objective  mind, 
and  that  intelligence  which  is  ordinarily  submerged 
below  the  threshold  of  normal  consciousness,  or  sub¬ 
jective  mind.  The  crucial  points  demonstrated  by  the 
research  which  interest  us  in  this  connection  were  the 
following : 

1.  That  telepathy  is  a  power  belonging  exclusively  to 
the  subjective  mind. 

2.  That  ordinarily  the  content  of  a  telepathic  message 
is  foreign  to  the  conscious  thoughts  of  the  agent  or 
sitter,  —  except  in  experimental  telepathy. 


104  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

3.  That  the  memory  of  the  subjective  mind  is  poten¬ 
tially  perfect. 

4.  That  rapport  (relation  of  harmony)  between  the 
agent  (the  sender)  and  the  percipient  (the  receiver)  is 
essential  to  the  successful  transmission  of  a  telepathic 
message. 

The  bearing  of  these  discoveries  upon  the  question  at 
issue  will  be  at  once  apparent  to  the  intelligent  reader. 
It  will  be  seen,  first,  that  the  fact  that  a  sitter  is  not  con¬ 
sciously  thinking  of  a  given  subject  when  in  presence 
of  a  psychic  does  not  prevent  a  telepathic  transmission 
of  the  subject  matter,_since  telepathy  is  exclusively  be¬ 
tween  subjective  minds. 

Secondly,  that  the  fact  that  a  sitter  has  objectively 
forgotten  a  circumstance  does  not  prevent  a  telepathic 
transmission  of  the  fact,  since  the  memory  of  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  is  potentially  perfect. 

Thus  does  another  evidential  stronghold  of  spiritism 
vanish  in  the  light  of  modern  science,  for  it  is  now  self- 
evident  that  what  a  sitter  is  consciously  thinking  of,  or 
what  he  has  once  known,  but  has  objectively  forgotten, 
weighs  not  one  hair  against  the  telepathic  theory.  On 
the  contrary,  it  so  completely  sustains  the  telepathic 
theory  that  the  burden  of  proof  rests  upon  spiritism  to 
show,  by  demonstrative  evidence,  that  all  cases  where 
supernormally  acquired  knowledge  is  in  evidence  may 
not  be  thus  explained. 

This  they  are  attempting  to  do,  but  by  a  process  as 
flagrantly  illogical  and  unscientific  as  that  employed 
in  any  of  their  attempts  to  sustain  a  constantly  failing 
cause. 

Numerous  cases  are  now  in  evidence  where  mediums 
have  evinced  a  knowledge  of  facts,  say  in  the  earthly 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


105 


career  of  an  alleged  communicating  spirit,  which  no  one 
present  could  by  any  possibility  have  ever  objectively 
known. 

,  This,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  the  crucial  test.  _It  \ 

*  is  the  last  ditch  of  spiritism,  and  if  such  cases  can  be  ! 

'  explained  by  reference  to  telepathy  their  cause  is  forever  • 
lost,  for  if  this  fails  them  there  will  be  left  not  a  shred  I  7 

’  .  t 

of  valid  evidence  that  spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  | 
with  the  living  through  mediums.  j 

The  case,  however,  is  a  very  simple  one  and  easily 
disposed  of  when  treated  in  a  straightforward,  common- 
sense  manner.  It  presents  but  one  question  about  which 
there  can  be  any  possible  room  for  a  rational  difference 
of  opinion,  and  that  is  simple  to  the  last  degree  to  any 
one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  fundamental  facts  of 
telepathy  and  the  elemental  principles  of  logical  reason¬ 
ing.  The  question  is : 

Can  information  telepathically  received  by  onp 
person  be  telepathically  communicated  by  him  to 
another  ? 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  the  average  reader,  the 
whole  question  of  spirit  communion  with  the  living 
through  mediums  hinges  upon  the  decision  of  that 
simple  problem.  And  this  is  what  I  meant  in  my 
opening  remarks  by  urging  the  propriety  —  the  logi¬ 
cal  necessity  —  of  reducing  the  question  to  its  lowest 
terms  by  eliminating  all  irrelevant  side  issues  and 
confining  our  attention  to  the  vital  issue  when  it  is 
found. 

A  few  words  will  show  the  practical  pertinency  of  the 
question  as  stated,  and  this  can  best  be  done  by  suppos¬ 
ing  a  simple  illustrative  example: 

A  seance  is  held  in  which  the  sitter  is  supposed  to  be 


io6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


put  into  communication  with  the  spirit  of  his  deceased 
father.  To  make  the  case  clear  and  free  from  compli¬ 
cations,  we  will  suppose  that  all  the  rest  of  the  sitter’s 
family  and  friends  are  dead,  —  all  died  before  the  death 
of  the  father.  Then  suppose  a  communication  from  the 
alleged  spirit  to  reveal  the  fact  that  some  time  before 
his  decease  the  father  had  concealed  a  large  sum  of 
money  in  a  certain  locality,  naming  it;  that  it  was  in¬ 
tended  for  the  son  when  he  became  of  age,  but  that  the 
father  died  suddenly  without  having  an  opportunity  to 
reveal  the  facts  to  the  son,  who,  in  the  meantime,  never 
had  a  suspicion  that  his  father  ever  had  any  surplus 
cash. 

Spiritists  hold,  of  course,  that  such  a  case  is  clearly 
one  in  which  telepathy  cannot  possibly  be  held  to  afford 
an  explanation,  —  a  clear  case,  therefore,  of  spirit  com¬ 
munion.  Advocates  of  the  telepathic  theory,  on  the 
other  hand,  hold  that  it  is  just  as  clearly  a  case  in  which 
telepathy  affords  an  easy  explanation,  on  the  obvious 
theory  that  information  received  telepathically  by  one 
person  can  be  communicated  by  him  telepathically  to  a 
^third  person.  Thus,  the  father  and  son  must  be  pre- 
*  sumed  to  have  been  in  telepathic  rapport  during  the  life 
of  both,  and  the  father  must  be  presumed  to  have  com¬ 
municated  the  information  to  the  son,  unconsciously,  of 
course,  to  the  latter,  since  telepathy  is  a  faculty  belong¬ 
ing  exclusively  to  the  subjective  mind.  The  information 
was,  therefore,  lodged  in  the  subjective  mind  of  the  son, 
where  it  remained,  latent,  until  he  came  in  contact  with 
a  psychic  who  was  able  to  reach  the  information  tele¬ 
pathically  and  thus  elevate  the  information  above  the 
threshold  of  normal  consciousness.  The  ability  to  do 
that  is  what  constitutes  a  psychic,  and  a  good  psychic 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS  10/ 

can  reach  the  content  of  the  subjective  mind  of  another, 
presumably  without  reference  to  how  it  got  there.  The 
son,  not  being  a  psychic,  was  unaware  of  the  facts  which 
had  been  communicated  telepathically  during  the  life¬ 
time  of  his  father.  But  the  information  was  there;  it 
was  a  part  of  his  subjective  mental  equipment,  and  only 
awaited  contact  with  a  psychic  who  could  reach  it  tel¬ 
epathically  and  thus  make  it  known  to  the  objective 
consciousness  of  all  concerned. 

Is  there  anything  inherently  impossible  or  improbable 
in  this  hypothesis?  I  think  not.  In  the  first  place,  all 
the  logical  and  scientific  presumptions  favor  it,  as 
against  supermundane  theories  of  causation.  Telepathy 
is  a  vera  causa;  spiritism  is  not.  We  know  something 
of  telepathy  and  its  conditions,  powers,  and  limitations ; 
we  know  that  it  is  a  means  of  communicating  intelli¬ 
gence  between  living  persons.  But  we  know  absolutely 
nothing  of  the  conditions,  powers,  or  limitations  of  dis¬ 
embodied  spirits.  Besides,  having  shown  that  telepathy 
affords  a  complete  explanation  of  the  great  bulk  of  the 
cases  where  supernormally  acquired  knowledge  is  in 
evidence,  the  presumption  that  all  cases  may  be  so  ac¬ 
counted  for  amounts  to  a  logical  certainty.  Especially 
is  this  true  in  the  absence  of  any  reasons  to  the  contrary, 
and  none  have  ever  been  given  that  were  not  obviously 
intended  to  evade  the  issue  rather  than  to  meet  it.  (See 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  reports  in  Piper  case.) 
Moreover,  if  the  telepathic  theory  in  this  class  of  cases 
harmonizes  with  all  that  is  known  of  the  powers  and 
limitations  of  telepathy,  its  truth  must  be  considered  as 
practically  demonstrated.  And  that  this  is  true  I  shall 
now  briefly  attempt  to  show. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 


108  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

!  '(before  the  date  of  its  conversion  into  an  international 
,  spiritistic  propaganda)  published  two  large  volumes 
{Phantasms  of  the  Living)  devoted  to  a  record  of  its 
telepathic  investigations,  in  which  the  following  facts, 
pertinent  to  the  inquiry,  were  developed: 

1.  That  acquaintances,  friends,  and  near  relatives  are 
actually  or  potentially  en  rapport  at  all  times, 

2.  That  the  power  to  project  a  telepathic  impression 
seems  to  increase  on  the  near  approach  of  death. 

3.  That  dying  persons  make  an  effort  to  acquaint 
their  near  relatives  or  friends  with  their  condition  and 
wishes,  especially  when  some  unsatisfied  desire  is  weigh¬ 
ing  upon  their  minds. 

4.  That  the  power  to  convey  and  to  receive  thoughts 
by  means  of  telepathy  seems  to  be  practically  unlimited. 

5.  The  limitations  of  telepathy  as  a  means  of  com¬ 
munication  between  those  who  are  en  rapport  seem  to 
pertain  solely  to  the  power  to  elevate  the  communica¬ 
tions  above  the  threshold  of  normal  consciousness. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  the  powers  and  limitations  of 
telepathy,  as  ascertained  by  years  of  observation  and 
laborious  research,  correspond  exactly  with  what  we 
would  have  a  right  to  expect  if  the  telepathic  theory 
is  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  phenomena  under 
consideration. 

Thus,  we  find  an  unlimited  capacity  in  the  subjective 
mind  to  transmit  and  to  receive  information  by  tele¬ 
pathy,  which,  with  the  perfect  memory  of  the  subjective 
mind,  argues  a  vast  store  of  information  thus  ac¬ 
quired  from  friends  and  relatives  with  whom  one  is 
en  rapport. 

The  limitations,  which  pertain  solely  to  the  means 
of  drawing  upon  this  fund  of  information,  are  explained 


MAAT’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


109 


by  the  fact  that  the  only  available  process  by  which  this 
can  be  accomplished  is  the  employment  of  psychics 
(mediums),  and  these  are  constantly  handicapped  by 
the  abnormal  conditions  necessary  for  the  work  of 
mediumship,  as  well  as  by  the  limitations  involved  in 
the  fact  that  they  are  constantl}'  open  to  control  by  the 
power  of  suggestion  while  in  that  condition. 

And  when  to  these  powers  and  limitations  is  added 
the  constant  rapport  of  relatives  and  friends,  the  su¬ 
preme  efforts  of  the  dying  to  acquaint  their  friends 
with  facts  of  mutual  interest  and  importance,  and  the 
latency  of  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  (lodged  in  the 
subjective  mind)  when  the  percipient  is  not  himself  a 
psychic,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  every  possible  facility 
for  the  phenomena  to  occur  exactly  as  we  have  supposed 
them  to  occur. 

Moreover,  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in  any  recorded 
experience  in  telepathy  to  militate  against  that  theory 
in  this  class  of  cases,  for  it  is  manifest  that  if  the  sup¬ 
posed  case  can  be  explained  by  reference  to  telepathy 
every  other  possible  case  can  be  thus  accounted  for. 
That  is  to  say,  if  telepathically  acquired  information  can 
be  telepathically  transmitted  to  a  third  person  it  would 
be  impossible  to  imagine  a  case  that  the  fact  would  not 
account  for. 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  this  is  the  crucial  question 
upon  which  spiritism  hinges ;  and  it  is,  of  course,  im¬ 
portant  that  it  should  be  determined  whether  telepathic 
a  trois,  as  the  French  term  it,  or  telepathy  by  three,  in 
plain  English,  is  a  telepathic  potential.  Let  us  put  the 
question  in  another  form,  —  a  form  that  will  show  the 
affirmative  to  be  self-evident : 

If  A  can  communicate  intelligence  to  B  by  any  known 


no 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


means  of  transmitting  human  knowledge,  B  can  com¬ 
municate  the  same  intelligence  by  the  same  means  to  C, 
conditions,  of  course,  being  equal. 

This  might  be  termed  a  “  universal  postulate,”  accord¬ 
ing  to  Herbert  Spencer’s  definition  of  that  term,  for 
“  its  opposite  is  inconceivable.”  If  it  is  true  of  one 
means  of  communicating  human  intelligence  it  is  ne¬ 
cessarily  true  of  all.  If  it  is  true  of  all,  then  it  is 
self-evident  that  “  telepathy  by  three  ”  is  a  telepathic 
potential.  And  if  that  is  true  it  follows  that  all  con¬ 
ceivable  cases  of  supernormally  acquired  intelligence 
by  so-called  mediums,  are  easily  explicable  under  the 
telepathic  hypothesis. 

What  answer  has  spiritism  to  offer  to  these  propo¬ 
sitions?  When  I  first  propounded  the  theory  in  sub¬ 
stantially  this  form,  eleven  years  ago  (see  The  Law 
of  Psychic  Phenomena^,  it  was  met  by  a  Podsnappian 
wave  of  the  hand,  and  —  “  Oh !  that  is  carrying  tele¬ 
pathy  too  far.”  But  neither  then  nor  since  has  any 
one  attempted  to  say  why  telepathically  acquired  infor- 
mation  cannot  be  telepathically  transmitted  to  a  third 
person.  Why?  Is  it  because  the  proposition  is  unan¬ 
swerable;  and  because,  if  true,  it  is  fatal  to  spiritism? 
The  reader  must  judge. 

Later  the  attempt  is  being  made  by  pseudo-scientists 
of  spiritism  to  ignore  the  real  issue,  and  to  exaggerate 
and  misrepresent  the  telepathic  theory  for  the  purpose 
of  denying  it  without  the  necessity  of  giving  valid 
reasons  for  so  doing.  Thus,  they  tell  us  that  the  tele¬ 
pathic  theory  presupposes  the  psychic  to  be  “  omni¬ 
scient,”  an  assertion  that  for  gratuitous  absurdity  could 
only  be  paralleled  by  the  assertion  that  it  required  com¬ 
mon  intellectual  integrity  to  enable  them  to  formulate  it. 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


III 


Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  answer  that  comes 
nearest  to  being  valid,  if  not  scientific,  comes  from  the 
corner-grocery  savants  of  spiritism.  They  tell  us, 
“  straight  from  the  shoulder,”  as  it  were,  that  “  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  telepathy ;  it ’s  all  spirits.” 

Obviously,  argument  would  be  futile  against  such 
robust  faith  in  the  supernatural,  and  I  pass  on  to  an 
equally  absurd  proposition  that  is  current  among  the 
“  scientists  ”  of  spiritism.  Beginning  with  Alfred  Rus¬ 
sell  Wallace,  and  continued  with  insistent  iteration  by 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  spiritists,  we  are 
told  that  the  spiritistic  theory  bears  internal  evidence 
of  scientific  truth  because  of  its  “  simplicity.” 

It  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  far  “  simpler  ”  to  refer 
all  psychic  phenomena  to  spirits  than  it  is  to  explain 
them  on  scientific  principles.  Besides,  it  obviates  all 
necessity  for  thinking,  and  that  is  a  great  point  gained 
for  many  otherwise  remarkably  good  people.  The  theory 
that  the  earth  is  flat  was  also  very  simple,  and  it  would 
have  saved  a  vast  deal  of  robust  thinking  if  the  world’s 
astronomical  geniuses  had  been  content  to  recognize 
“  simplicity  ”  as  a  valid  scientific  postulate.  The  sav¬ 
age’s  theory  that  “  thunder  is  the  voice  of  an  angry 
god  ”  is  simple  to  the  last  degree  —  much  simpler  than 
is  the  vast  science  which  has  grown  out  of  the  scien¬ 
tific  observation  of  the  electrical  phenomena  of  the 
heavens. 

If  simplicity  is  the  measure  of  scientific  accuracy, 
there  is  a  theory  extant  that  is  far  less  complicated  than 
that  which  postulates  millions  of  good,  bad,  and  indif¬ 
ferent  spirits  at  work,  often  at  cross-purposes  —  some 
even  with  intent  to  deceive  mankind  into  scientific  be¬ 
liefs,  and  others  repudiating  all  that  science  thinks  it 


II2 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


knows ;  no  two  spirits,  in  short,  ever  agreeing  upon 
any  one  proposition.  If,  as  I  said,  simplicity  is  the 
measure  of  scientific  verity,  why  not  adopt  the  far  more 
simple,  and  vastly  more  orthodox,  theory  that  the  devil 
is  responsible  for  the  whole  business?  Aside  from  the 
superior  quality  of  “  simplicity  ”  inherent  in  the  satanic 
theory,  the  results  of  spiritism  invest  it  with  an  air  of 
plausibility  not  to  be  ignored  as  valueless  by  spiritistic 
logicians. 

In  concluding  this  I  desire  to  answer  a  question  that 
has  often  been  propounded  by  spiritists  concerning  the 
telepathic  theory  and  which  will  doubtless  occur  to 
many  of  the  readers  of  this  article.  It  is  this : 

“  You  admit,”  say  the  spiritists,  “  that  two  embodied 
spirits  can  communicate  with  each  other  by  means 
of  telepathy.  Why,  then,  cannot  a  disembodied  spirit 
communicate  with  an  embodied  spirit  by  the  same 
means?  ” 

This  is  a  very  popular  question,  and  it  is  usually 
held  to  be  a  “  poser,”  especially  by  those  whose  logic 
is  a  little  infirm.  The  obvious  answer  is  that  it  is  not 
a  question  pertinent  to  the  issue  involved  in  spiritism. 
As  for  myself,  I  do  not  know  why  they  cannot  —  I 
do  not  even  know  that  they  cannot  —  so  communicate. 
But  that  is  not  the  question  raised  by  the  phenomena  of 
spiritism.  That  question  is :  “  Do  spirits  of  the  dead 
communicate  with  the  living  through  mediums  ?  ”  ob¬ 
viously  a  very  much  more  restricted  question,  as  it 
involves  solely  the  question  of  mediumship,  otherwise 
the  phenomena  of  spiritism.  And  it  is  exclusively 
from  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  phenomena  them¬ 
selves  that  the  question  must  be  settled. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  that  the  whole  question 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


II3 

hinges  upon  “  telepathy  by  three,”  and  that  that  is 
a  self-evident  proposition.  Besides,  it  can  easily  be 
shown  that  telepathy  by  three  is,  in  fact,  a  very  common 
phenomenon.  It  follows  that  spiritism,  considered  as 
a  subject  of  scientific  inquiry,  has  no  polemical  weapon 
now  available  except  the  insensate  denial  of  a  self- 
evident  proposition. 

It  will  now  be  in  order  to  take  our  logical  bearings 
by  a  brief  recapitulation  of  the  points  thus  far  estab¬ 
lished,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  what  positions,  if  any, 
may  be  further  fortified  by  the  facts  of  human  experi¬ 
ence.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  following  propo¬ 
sitions  will  not  be  disputed  by  any  scientist  who  cares 
to  apply  the  elementary  principles  of  logical  induction 
to  the  investigation  of  spiritism. 

1.  That  the  issue  is,  “  Do  spirits  of  the  dead  com¬ 
municate  with  living  persons  through  mediums  ?  ” 

2.  That  the  only  valid  evidence  competent  to  prove 
the  affirmative  must  be  such  as  will  demonstrate  the 
personal  identity  of  the  alleged  communicating  spirit. 

3.  That  physical  phenomena,  j^er  se,  therefore,  pos¬ 
sess  no  evidential  value  whatever. 

4.  That,  in  the  absence  of  other  proofs  of  personal 
identity,  the  dramatic  personation  of  a  spirit  possesses 
no  evidential  value. 

5.  That  telepathy,  or  thought-transference,  is  a  valid 
explanation  of  all  cases  where  the  information  “  com¬ 
municated  ”  was  in  the  possession  of  any  person  present 
at  the  seance. 

6.  That  the  telepathic  explanation  is  none  the  less 
valid  because  the  information  was  not  consciously  pos¬ 
sessed  by  the  sitter,  as  when  he  had  quite  forgotten  the 
facts  “  communicated.” 


8 


1 14  the  evolutioh  of  the  soul 

Thus  far,  no  intelligent  spiritist  will  take  exception. 
This  narrows  the  field  of  inquiry  to  those  communi¬ 
cations  which  contain  information  not  obtained  by  the 
medium,  or  any  one  present,  by  any  of  the  normal,  sen¬ 
sory  channels  of  communicating  human  thought.  That 
is  to  say,  the  information,  if  possessed  by  the  sitter, 
must  have  been  received  telepathically,  unconsciously  to 
himself  and  to  the  agent  from  whom  it  was  obtained. 
This  involves  the  question  whether  information  tele¬ 
pathically  received  can  be  telepathically  communicated 
to  a  third  person.  And  this,  as  I  have  already  shown,  is 
the  ultimate  issue  to  be  decided ;  for  if  telepathie  a  trois, 
or  “  telepathy  by  three,”  is  a  telepathic  potential,  it  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  imagine  a  case  to  which  the 
principle  would  not  afford  a  complete  explanation.  I 
have  also  shown  that  telepathy  by  three  is  a  self-evident 
proposition.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  self-evident  that  if  A 
can  send  a  message  to  B,  by  any  known  means  of  com¬ 
municating  intelligence,  B  can  communicate  the  same 
message,  by  the  same  means,  to  C,  conditions  being 
equal. 

Is  telepathy  an  exception  to  this  universal  rule?  Is 
knowledge  communicated  telepathically  anything  less 
than  knowledge?  Is  information  thus  communicated  to 
the  subjective  mind  not  a  part  of  its  mental  equipment? 
Is  the  subjective  mind  prone  to  forget  what  it  has  once 
known?  These  questions  answer  themselves.  All  who 
are  even  superficially  acquainted  with  the  salient  char¬ 
acteristics  of  the  subjective  mind  know  that  it  never 
sleejps,  and  never  forgets ;  that  knowledge,  however 
trivial  may  be  its  character,  may  remain  latent  for  many 
years,  but  that  proper  mental  conditions  will  bring  it 
forth  with  all  its  details.  The  old  psychologists  were 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS  II5 

well  aware  of  this  fact.  If  any  one  has  ever  given  a 
reason  why  telepathically  acquired  knowledge  rests 
upon  a  different  footing  in  this  respect  from  knowl¬ 
edge  acquired  in  any  other  way,  I  have  yet  to  hear 
of  it. 

Now  what  are  the  facts?  I  have  said  that  telepathy 
by  three  is  a  self-evident  proposition,  and  it  is.  But  as 
spiritists  require  demonstrative  proofs  of  self-evident 
propositions  that  contravene  their  cherished  beliefs,  I 
shall  cite  a  few  cases,  taken  mostly  from  the  proceedings 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  which  prove  our 
thesis  beyond  peradventure. 

Telepathy  by  three  is,  in  point  of  fact,  a  very  common 
phenomenon.  But,  like  many  other  familiar  facts  in 
nature,  it  has  remained  for  years  unnoted  by  scientific 
investigators  because  its  importance  was  not  realized. 
Who  could  have  predicted,  seventeen  years  ago,  that  the 
whole  question  of  spirit  intercourse  through  mediums 
would  ever  hinge  upon  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  familiar 
phenomenon  of  telepathy  by  three?  Certainly  not  the 
spiritistic  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re¬ 
search,  for  their  early  reports  abound  in  well  authenti¬ 
cated  cases.  It  is  significant,  however,  that,  since  the 
conversion  of  that  society  into  a  gigantic  spiritistic 
propaganda,  the  reported  cases  of  telepathy  by  three, 
outside  of  alleged  spiritistic  communications,  are  con¬ 
spicuous  for  their  scarcity.  Fortunately,  however,  for 
the  cause  of  truth,  that  society  cannot  obliterate  its  own 
record ;  nor  can  it  prevent  the  daily  exemplification  of 
that  phenomenon  in  experimental  telepathy,  nor  sup¬ 
press  the  reports  of  thousands  of  spontaneous  cases 
constantly  occurring  outside  the  limited  field  to  which  it 
now  confines  its  earnest  efforts. 


ii6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


F.  W.  H.  Myers,  for  instance,  early  admitted  the 
possibility  of  telepathy  by  three  in  cases  of  collective 
phantasms.  (See  p.  320,  Vol.  VII.  Proc.  S.  P.  R.)  But 
at  the  time  he  preferred  another  theory,  which  has  since 
been  shown  to  be  fallacious,  thus  leaving  telepathy  by 
three  as  the  only  possible  solution,  outside  of  the  assump¬ 
tion  of  the  objective  reality  of  the  phantasm. 

In  the  same  volume,  p.  295,  Mr.  Walter  Leaf, 
one  of  the  ablest  of  the  then  active  members  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  clearly  formulated 
the  doctrine.  Reviewing  a  current  publication  by  von 
Hartman,  Mr.  Leaf  offered  the  following  pregnant 
suggestion : 

“  And  finally,  von  Hartman  seems  to  have  overlooked  the 
consequences  which  result  from  the  joint  admission  of  the  reality 
of  telepathy  and  the  infinite  retentiveness  of  the  subliminal 
memory.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  those  rare  telepathic 
impressions  which  rise  to  the  level  of  consciousness  are  but  a 
fraction  of  those  which  the  underself  is  continually  receiving. 
Yet  each  one  of  these  must  be  stored  up  in  the  unconscious 
memory,  and  be  capable  of  reproduction  under  favorable  circum¬ 
stances.  If  we  further  admit  that  the  unconscious  self  is  capable 
of  handing  on  such  impressions,  whether  by  telepathy  or  thought- 
transference,  they  remove  all  necessity  for  the  assumption  of 
spiritual  agency  or  clairvoyance,  when  we  have  to  deal  with  a 
piece  of  knowledge  which  may  at  anytime  have  been  in  the  mind 
of  any  living  man.” 


Professor  Oliver  Lodge,  who  is  now  the  president  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  very  early  announced 
his  belief  in  “  thought-transference  ”  as  fully  compe¬ 
tent  to  explain  all  that  is  mysterious  in  so-called  spirit 
communications,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a  “  known 
cause,”  that  is,  one  to  which  there  need  be  no  hesitation 
in  appealing  in  order  to  explain  facts  which  without 
it  would  be  inexplicable.  (Proc.  S.  P.  R.  Vol.  VI.  p. 


MAN^S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


117 


451.)  Professor  Lodge  did  not  distinctly  formulate  the 
doctrine  of  telepathy  by  three,  but  he  cited  two  cases,  in 
contrast,  which  are  demonstrative  of  the  principle.  In 
one  of  them  a  deceased  uncle  figured  as  the  communi¬ 
cator,  and  he  related  many  facts  —  family  affairs  —  of 
which  those  present  knew  nothing,  all  of  which,  how¬ 
ever,  “  have  been  more  or  less  completely  verified,”  says 
the  professor  (pp.  458-9).  On  the  other  hand,  a  mes¬ 
sage  was  received  in  his  presence  from  a  comparative 
stranger — not  a  relative  of  any  one  present — and  every¬ 
thing  which  the  sitters  knew  about  was  correctly  related ; 
whereas,  the  statements  made  of  which  they  knew 
nothing  were  all  false  (p.  461). 

Obviously  the  principle  of  telepathy  by  three  affords 
a  full  and  complete  explanation  of  the  knowledge  ob¬ 
tained  from  the  uncle,  and  the  failure  in  the  other  case 
is  just  as  obviously  due  to  the  absence  of  the  necessary 
conditions,  namely,  rapport  between  the  sitters  and  the 
communicator  during  the  lifetime  of  the  latter.  The 
spiritistic  hypothesis  necessarily  fails,  for  the  conditions 
from  that  standpoint  were  precisely  the  same  in  the 
two  cases.  The  principal  sitter  was  the  same,  namely, 
Professor  Lodge,  the  medium  was  the  same,  Mrs.  Piper, 
and  the  so-called  “  control  ”  was  in  each  case  none  other 
than  the  now  noted  Dr.  Phinuet,  a  Frenchman,  who  had 
forgotten  la  latigue  frangaise.  If,  therefore,  it  was  a 
spirit  in  one  case  it  was  a  spirit  in  the  other,  and  no 
good  reason  has  yet  been  given  why  one  spirit  should 
tell  the  truth,  whether  the  sitter  knows  the  facts  or  not, 
while  another  tells  it  only  when  the  sitter  knows  the 
facts.  In  other  words,  the  spiritistic  hypothesis  does 
not  furnish  an  explanation  of  the  difference  in  the  re¬ 
sults  of  the  two  cases.  On  the  other  hand,  telepathy 


Il8  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

by  three  does  account  for  it  in  the  only  way  consistent 
with  the  known  facts  of  modern  science. 

Andrew  Lang  is  another  famous  psychical  researcher 
who  finds  telepathy  by  three  to  be  the  only  tenable  hy¬ 
pothesis  explanatory  of  the  phenomena  under  consid¬ 
eration.  He  has  caused  numerous  experiments  to  be 
made  by  means  of  “  crystal  gazing,”  through  the  agency 
of  Miss  Angus  and  others,  many  of  which  are  demon¬ 
strative  of  telepathy  by  three.  A  few  of  the  latter  he 
sums  up  as  follows:  (See  Part  XXXVI.  Proc.  S.  P. 
R.  pp.  48-50.) 

“Again  and  again  Miss  Angus,  sitting  with  man  or  woman, 
described  acquaintances  of  theirs,  but  not  of  hers,  in  situations 
not  known  to  the  sitters,  but  proved  to  be  true  to  fact.  Now, 
the  far-going  hypothesis  of  direct  clairvoyance  was  here  excluded 
(in  most  cases,  not  in  all)  by  conditions  of  time.  In  one  instance. 
Miss  Angus  described  doings  from  three  weeks  to  a  fortnight 
old,  of  people  in  India,  people  whom  she  had  never  seen  or  heard 
of,  but  who  were  known  to  her  ‘sitter.’  Her  account,  given  on 
a  Saturday,  was  corroborated  by  a  letter  from  India,  which  arrived 
next  day,  Sunday.'  In  another  case  she  described  (about  10  p.  m.) 
what  a  lady,  not  known  to  her,  but  the  daughter  of  a  matron 
present  (who  was  not  the  sitter),  had  been  doing  about  4  p.  m.  on 
the  same  day.  What  the  person  seen  was  doing  was  not  a  thing 
familiar,  for  I  asked  that  question.  Again,  sitting  with  the  lady, 
Miss  Angus  described  a  singular  set  of  scenes  much  in  the  mind, 
not  of  her  sitter,  but  of  a  very  unsympathetic  stranger,  who  was 
reading  a  book  at  the  other  end  of  the  room.  I  have  tried  every 
hypothesis,  normal  and  not  so  normal,  to  account  for  these  and 
analogous  performances  of  Miss  Angus.  There  was,  in  the 
Indian  and  other  cases,  no  physical  possibility  of  collusion; 
chance  coincidence  did  not  seem  adequate  ;  ghosts  were  out  of 
the  question,  so  was  direct  clairvoyance.  That  Miss  Angus 
(who,  by  the  way,  was  in  the  most  normal  and  wide-awake  con¬ 
dition)  had  got  into  touch  with  the  Absolute,  and  was  making 
discriminating  selections  from  the  stores  of  Omniscience,  did  not 
seem  likely,  because  her  crystal  pictures  appeared  to  be  directed 
by  the  mind  of  a  person  present,  not  always  the  sitter.  Nothing 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


II9 

remained  for  the  speculative  theorizer  but  the  idea  of  cross  cur¬ 
rents  of  telepathy  [telepathy  by  three]  between  Miss  Angus, 
a  casual  stranger,  the  sitters  and  people  far  away,  known  to  the 
sitters  or  the  stranger,  but  unknown  to  Miss  Angus.  Unpublished 
examples  of  these  things  went  on  the  same  lines.  Miss  Angus 
picked  up  facts,  unknown  to  the  sitters,  about  people  known  to 
them,  but  not  to  her. 

“  Now  suppose  that  Miss  Angus,  instead  of  dealing  with  living  | 
people,  by  way  of  visions,  had  dealt  by  way  of  voice,  or  automatic 
handwriting,  and  had  introduced  a  dead  ‘communicator.’  Then 
she  would  have  been  on  a  par  with  Mrs.  Piper,  yet  with  no  aid  ! 
from  the  dead.  ...  i 

“  Not  to  rely  solely  on  Miss  Angus,  I  take  another  instance. 
My  friend,  Mr.  Lesley,  is  known  to  the  world  as  a  man  of  busi¬ 
ness,  a  golfer,  and  a  composer.  He  can  see  crystal  pictures,  but 
(like  most  of  my  acquaintances  who  possess  the  faculty,  includ¬ 
ing  my  cook)  has  hardly  any  interest  in  the  practice.  One  day 
Mr.  Lesley  and  I  had  been  talking  about  a  lady,  unknown  to  him, 
but  known  to  me,  though  I  had  never  seen  her  house.  Mr. 
Lesley  began  to  look  into  a  glass  water-jug,  and  described  what 
he  saw,  the  interior  of  the  hall  of  a  house,  with  a  good  deal  of 
detail.  Neither  of  us  recognized  the  house.  I  happened  later 
to  tell  this  to  the  lady  of  whom  we  had  been  talking ;  she  said, 

‘  Why,  that  is  my  house,’  and,  on  visiting  it,  I  found  that  in  all  . 
respects  it  answered  to  Mr.  Lesley’s  description.” 

Mr.  L^g  then  proceeds  to  say  that  if  the  lady  had 
been  dead,  and  the  psychic  had  been  in  a  trance,  spir- 
itists  would  have  claimed  it  as  a  spirit  communication. 
But  as  nobody  was  dead,  “  the  theory  of  a  spirit  is 
wholly  impossible,  and  if  not  telepathy  c  frois,  then  some 
other  nonspiritualistic  theory  must  account  for  the  facts, 
as  for  the  facts  in  Miss  Angus’s  cases.” 

A  typical  case  once  came  under  my  own  observation, 
which  not  only  demonstrates  telepathy  by  three,  but 
reveals  its  wide  range  of  usefulness  to  charlatans  and 
mountebanks  of  many  varieties.  A  gentleman  residing 
in  a  distant  northern  city  visited  Washington  on  his 
way  to  Florida,  and,  being  somewhat  interested  in 


120 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


psychical  matters,  especially  telepathy,  requested  me  to 
introduce  him  to  some  one  who  could  satisfy  his  curi¬ 
osity  by  some  signal  display  of  telepathic  powers.  At 
that  time  I  happened  to  know  a  hypnotic  subject  who 
occasionally  manifested  remarkable  powers  in  that  di¬ 
rection.  He  was  neither  a  spiritist  nor  a  professional 
psychic,  and  shrank  from  publicity,  but  would  occasion¬ 
ally  display  his  powers  to  a  select  few  of  his  friends. 
One  of  his  peculiarities  consisted  in  a  fondness  for 
mystifying  his  friends  by  “  dropping  into  prophecy  ” 
concerning  their  future  movements,  often  with  startling 
results,  the  case  that  I  am  about  to  relate  being  in  point. 
With  much  reluctance  he  consented  to  meet  a  total 
stranger,  having  been  assured  by  me  that  the  gentleman 
was  on  his  way  to  Florida  and  would  not  be  here  to 
trouble  him  further.  The  seance  was  accordingly  held 
that  evening  in  the  gentleman’s  private  room,  at  the 
Arlington,  two  or  three  friends  of  the  sitter  being  the 
only  ones  present  besides  the  dramatis  personae.  Having 
hypnotized  the  psychic,  to  insure  perfect  rapport  I 
caused  the  two  to  shake  hands,  saying  to  the  psychic  as 
I  did  so:  “  Now  I  want  you  to  tell  this  gentleman  all 
that  he  knows  about  himself,  and  more,  too,  if  possible.” 

After  a  few  moments  of  silence  the  psychic  asked  to 
take  the  sitter’s  hand  again.  This  being  complied  with, 
he  said,  speaking  very  rapidly : 

“  I  can  tell  the  gentleman  one  thing  that  he  thinks 
he  knows,  but  does  not  know.  He  thinks  that  he  is 
going  to  start  for  Florida  to-morrow  morning.” 

"  Yes,  I  told  you  that,”  I  replied. 

Without  noticing  the  interruption  he  continued: 

“  I  can  tell  him  another  thing  that  he  does  not  know. 
He  is  going  directly  home  to-morrow  morning.” 


MAN’S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


I2I 


“  I  certainly  do  not  know  that,”  replied  the  sitter. 
“  If  I  live  I  shall  start  for  Florida  to-morrow  morning.” 

“  Nevertheless,  you  will  go  home  before  you  go  to 
Florida.  I  prophesy  that,  and  don't  you  forget  it,”  re¬ 
plied  the  psychic  with  some  show  of  dogmatism. 

“  Did  the  spirits  tell  you  that  ?  ”  asked  the  sitter, 
sarcastically. 

“  No !  I  am  not  a  medium,  much  less  a  spiritualist,” 
indignantly  replied  the  psychic. 

Knowing  that  he  was  sensitive  on  that  point,  and 
realizing  that  he  was  becoming  excited,  I  signalled  the 
sitter  to  cease  talking  on  the  subject  and  proposed  other 
experiments.  Several  crucial  tests  were  made  during 
the  evening  with  special  reference  to  the  question  of 
independent  clairvoyance,  resulting  in  _demonstrative 
proof  that  the  psychic  did  not  possess  that  power,  but 
that  he  did  possess  telepathic  powers  to  an  extraor¬ 
dinary  degree.  The  latter  was  demonstrated  the  next 
morning  when  the  gentleman  boarded  the  first  train 
for  home. 

His  sudden  change  of  front  was  in  response  to  a 
telegram  received  about  four  o’clock  in  the  morning 
from  his  family  physician,  urging  his  instant  return  on 
account  of  the  sudden  and  serious  illness  of  his  wife. 

“  Spirits,”  explains  the  spiritist.  But  nobody  was 
dead. 

“  Clairvoyance !  ”  suggests  the  belated  believer  in  the 
existence  of  that  power,  —  that  is,  in  the  power  to  see 
what  is  occurring  at  a  distance,  independently  of  the 
aid  of  telepathy  from  living  persons.  Aside  from  the 
'"alTbut  demonstrated  fact  that  no  such  power  exists,  it 
was  obviously  not  independent  clairvoyance  in  this  case, 
since  personal  contact  with  the  sitter  was  necessary. 


122 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


“  Muscle  reading !  ”  oracularly  proclaims  the  pseudo¬ 
scientist,  who  feels  bound,  by  the  limited  range  of  the 
authorized  beliefs  of  his  cultus,  to  find  a  physical  ex¬ 
planation  for  every  phenomenon. 

To  which  I  reply  that  if  the  potentialities  of  “  muscle 
reading  ”  extend  to  the  cognizance  of  the  acts  and 
thoughts  of  strangers  hundreds  of  miles  distant;  and 
if  that  knowledge  can  be  obtained  by  physical  contact 
with  one  who  is  in  telepathic  rapport  with  the  actors, 
I  am  content,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  to  call  it  “  muscle 
reading.” 

In  this  case,  however,  the  only  possible  muscle  reading 
was  between  the  psychic  and  the  sitter.  But  the  fact 
remains  that  the  psychic,  by  some  means,  became  cog¬ 
nizant  of  what  was,  for  the  time  being,  uppermost  in 
the  subjective  mind  of  the  sitter,  namely,  the  condition 
and  necessities  of  his  own  family ;  and  that  information 
must  be  presumed,  in  the  absence  of  any  other  explana¬ 
tion,  to  have  been  obtained  telepathically  from  his  dis¬ 
tressed  wife. 

No  psychical  researcher,  who  is  at  all  acquainted  with 
the  propaedeutics  of  psychic  science,  will  for  a  moment 
deny  the  probability  of  telepathic  communion  between 
husband  and  wife  under  such  circumstances.  Indeed, 
the  records  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  render 
this  as  certain  as  any  fact  in  science.  The  information, 
therefore,  that  led  the  psychic  to  “  prophesy  "  the  sitter’s 
early  return  home  was  certainly  in  the  subjective  mind 
of  the  latter;  and  that  the  psychic  obtained  it  directly 
from  the  sitter’s  subjective  mind  by  some  means  other 
than  through  ordinary,  sensory  channels  —  call  it  tele¬ 
pathy,  thought-transference,  or  muscle  reading,  or  what 
you  will  —  is  not  open  to  rational  doubt.  Terminology 


MAN'S  PSYCHIC  POWERS 


123 


is  not  the  essence  of  a  scientific  inquiry ;  and  the  fact 
remains  that  this  case  is  typical  of  that  telepathy  by 
three  which  spiritists,  with  hysterical  insistence,  see  fit 
to  deny. 

I  have  said  that  telepathy  by  three  lends  itself  to  the 
uses  of  a  great  variety  of  charlatans.  Thus,  the  psychic 
in  this  case  was  fond  of  posing  as  a  prophet,  pure  and 
simple,  and  would  rarely  give  reasons  for  his  previsions. 
Nevertheless  it  was  always  evident  that  he  obtained  his 
data  by  means  of  his  telepathic  powers,  and  thus  mysti¬ 
fied  his  sitters  to  the  top  of  his  bent. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  he  had  seen  fit  to  pose  as  a  spirit 
medium  he  would  have  won  renown  as  such,  and  by 
the  same  means  that  others  do.  All  that  would  have 
been  required  in  the  case  mentioned  would  have  been 
for  him  to  say  that  the  spirits  had  told  him  that  the 
sitter’s  wife  was  dangerously  ill.  Moreover,  the  tele¬ 
pathic  visions  from  which  he  obtained  his  data  for 
“  prophesying  ”  the  sudden  departure  of  the  sitter  for 
home  would  very  likely  have  been  practically  the  same 
if  he  had  believed  them  to  have  been  produced  by 
spirits. 

In  short,  a  good  telepathist  is  well  equipped  for  suc¬ 
cessful  charlatanry  in  almost  any  field ;  for  example, 
fortune-telling,  palmistry,  astrology,  clairvoyance,  etc. 
In  other  words,  whatever  of  supernormally  acquired 
knowledge  is  found  to  exist  in  the  mind  of  any  psychic, 
no  matter  what  his  particular  theory  of  causation  may 
be,  or  what  may  be  his  particular  method  of  elevating 
it  above  the  threshold  of  normal  consciousness,  tele¬ 
pathy  affords  a  full  and  complete  revelation  of  its  mys¬ 
terious  source.  And  when  the  truth  is  once  realized  of 
the  self-evident  proposition  that  knowledge  telepathi- 


124  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

cally  acquired  from  one  person  can  be  telepathically” 
communicated  to  another,  it  will  be  apparent  that  every 
imaginable  case  of  alleged  spirit  communication  through 
mediums  easily  ranges  itself  under  the  terms  of  the 
telepathic  hypothesis. 


I 


IV 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  OF 
LIFE  AFTER  DEATH 

IN  the  examination  of  any  question  requiring  the 
exercise  of  the  power  or  faculty  of  discrimination 
between  what  is  and  what  is  not  good  evidence  for 
or  against  a  given  proposition  it  is  always  best  to  begin 
by  excluding  from  the  field  of  inquiry  all  irrelevant 
side  issues.  In  no  realm  of  human  inquiry  is  the  appli¬ 
cation  of  this  rule  more  important,  nor  is  it  anywhere 
more  generally  disregarded  than  in  estimating  the 
value  of  spirit  phenomena  as  evidence  of  life  after 
death. 

It  is  true  that  a  vast  congeries  of  phenomena,  of 
indefinitely  varied  character,  is  presented  for  our  con¬ 
sideration,  each  of  which  we  are  invited  to  believe  is 
produced  by  a  disembodied  spirit ;  and  to  the  superficial 
observer  each  is  entitled  to  a  separate  investigation,  or  at 
least  to  equal  consideration  as  to  its  evidential  value.  It 
is,  however,  obvious  to  the  scientific  investigator  that  this 
assumption  is  not  warranted,  and  that,  in  point  of  fact, 
there  must  be  much  of  the  phenomena  that  in  itself 
possesses  no  evidential  value  whatever. 

A  moment’s  consideration  will  reveal  a  clear  line  of 
demarcation  between  those  phenomena  which  may  pos- 


126  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

sess  evidential  value  and  those  which  can  by  no  possi¬ 
bility  prove  or  disprove  the  claim  of  spiritism.  The 
latter  class  comprises  all  of  the  physical  phenomena, 
such  as  rapping,  table-tipping,  levitation  of  ponderable 
bodies  without  physical  contact  or  mechanical  appli¬ 
ances,  slate-writing,  et  hoc  genus  omne.  It  is  not,  how¬ 
ever,  necessary  either  to  doubt  or  deny  that  these 
phenomena  are  produced  by  supernormal  means,  except 
perhaps  for  the  purpose  of  assuming  to  be  ultra-scien¬ 
tific  ;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  believe  in  their  genuineness, 
for  they  all  may  be  fraudulently  produced ;  or  they 
may  all  be  veridical  without  afifecting  the  question  of 
spirit  intercourse.  A  few  words  will  make  my  meaning 
clear. 

Let  us  take,  for  example,  the  phenomenon  of  levita¬ 
tion  of  furniture.  In  itself  it  is  no  more  wonderful  that 
a  table  should  be  lifted  without  physical  contact  than 
that  a  horseshoe  magnet  should  levitate  its  armature. 
There  is,  however,  a  vast  difference  between  the  two 
phenomena,  in  that  there  is  an  intelligence  connected 
with  the  movements  of  the  table.  It  will  answer  ques¬ 
tions  and  carry  on  a  conversation  with  those  present ; 
and  in  answer  to  a  question  as  to  the  source  of  the 
intelligence,  the  usual  reply  is  that  it  is  the  spirit  of 
some  deceased  person.  And  here  let  me  say,  in  all 
candor,  that,  in  the  absence  of  the  light  afforded  by 
recent  discoveries  in  psychology,  the  animistic  theory 
of  causation  was  the  most  rational  explanation  of  the 
phenomena.  But  of  this  later  on.  The  point  I  wish  to 
make  now  is  that  it  is  the  intelligence  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  in  searching  for  an  explanation  of  the 
phenomena.  The  physical  phenomena  of  themselves 
afford  no  possible  clue  to  their  origin;  and  it  is  only 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 27 

by  an  analysis  of  the  intelligence  displayed  —  that  is  to 
say,  the  “  communications  ”  received  —  that  we  can 
find  evidence  as  to  their  source.  We  may  therefore 
safely  leave  out  of  consideration  all  purely  physical 
phenomena,  at  least  until  we  have  definitely  located  the 
source  of  the  alleged  communications.  The  advantages 
arising  from  pursuing  this  logical  “  method  of  exclu¬ 
sion  ”  are  these:  (i)  the  issue  is  vastly  simplified;  (2) 
the  range  of  inquiry  is  confined  to  essentials;  (3)  it 
eliminates  from  the  field  of  inquiry  a  vast  number  of 
phenomena  each  of  which  easily  lends  itself  to  fraud 
and  legerdemain,  and  neither  of  which,  whether  genu¬ 
ine  or  fraudulent,  possesses  in  itself  the  slightest 
evidential  value. 

In  pursuing  the  policy  of  ignoring  irrelevant  ques¬ 
tions,  that  of  the  selection  of  a  proper  psychic,  or 
“  medium,”  is  also  very  much  simplified.  All  that  is 
required  is  one  who  has  acquired  the  power  of  self- 
hypnotization,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  termed,  the  power 
to  enter  with  facility  the  condition  of  trance,  and  while 
in  that  state  to  answer  questions  and  perform  the  usual 
mental  feats  of  so-called  mediumship.  As  an  example 
of  this  method  of  investigation  reference  is  made  to 
that  adopted  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and 
to  the  celebrated  Mrs.  Piper  as  a  representative  of  the 
type  of  medium  required. 

The  theory  of  spiritism  is  that  spirits  of  the  dead  take 
possession  of  mediums  of  this  class  and  employ  their 
vocal  organs  and  hands,  respectively,  for  speaking  and 
writing  directly  to  those  present,  the  functions  of  the 
medium’s  brain  being  in  the  meantime  suspended. 

This  at  once  presents  the  real  issue;  is  it  true  that 
spirits  of  the  dead  communicate  with  the  living  through 


128 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


so-called  spirit  mediums  ?  Or,  to  put  it  still  more  fairly 
and  conservatively,  is  there  any  valid  evidence  that 
spirits  do  so  communicate? 

In  discussing  this  question  it  is  first  in  order  to 
inquire  what  reasons  are  given  by  spiritists  for  believing 
that  the  so-called  communications,  purporting  to  ema¬ 
nate  from  disembodied  spirits,  are  in  reality  what  they 
are  alleged  to  be.  It  will  then  be  in  order  to  examine  the 
validity  of  those  reasons,  or,  in  other  words,  to  inquire 
whether  the  phenomena  cannot  be  otherwise  accounted 
for.  In  making  the  latter  inquiry  I  will  strenuously 
insist  upon  the  recognition  of  the  axiom  of  science  that 
“  we  have  no  logical  right  to  attribute  any  phenomenon 
to  supermundane  agency  that  can  be  accounted  for  on 
principles  of  natural  law.” 

In  stating  the  reasons  for  the  spiritist  belief  I  will 
endeavor  to  do  so  with  absolute  fairness,  and  to  that 
end  I  will  suppose  the  most  favorable  conditions  that  a 
spiritist  could  desire.  The  “  reasons  ”  naturally  group 
themselves  under  two  heads.  The  first  group  pertains 
exclusively  to  the  medium,  and  the  second  to  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  “  communications.”  They  will  be  con¬ 
sidered  separately  and  in  their  order.  The  first  group 
may  be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  The  medium  is  honest,  and  is  normally  incapable 
of  dissimulation. 

2.  The  medium  sincerely  believes  the  communica¬ 
tions  to  be  what  they  purport  to  be. 

3.  The  medium  is  unconscious  of  having  any  part 
or  lot  in  determining  the  contents  or  character  of  the 
communications,  or  of  possessing  any  psychological 
power  or  attribute  that  would  render  unconscious  par¬ 
ticipation  possible. 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 29 

4.  The  medium,  though  normally  possessing  no  dra-  j 

matic  power  whatever,  often  personates  the  soi-disant  j 
spirit  with  wonderful  accuracy,  often  to  the  extent  of  i 
imitating  the  voice,  gestures,  and  even  the  mental  idio-  j 
syncrasies  of  the  supposed  personality.  ) 

5.  The  alleged  spirit  often  manifests  mental  and 
moral  characteristics  antipodal  to  those  normally  pos¬ 
sessed  by  the  medium,  sometimes  strenuously  disputing 
her  preconceived  opinions,  and  often  displaying  an 
obliquity  shocking  to  her  moral  sensibilities. 

It  is  obvious  that  here  is  a  series  of  statements  which, 
if  true  and  unexplained,  go  far  toward  establishing  the 
validity  of  the  claims  of  spiritism.  A  very  few  years 
ago  these  statements  could  be  met  in  but  one  of  three 
ways,  namely,  (i)  a  denial  of  the  facts,  (2)  a  charge  of 
fraud  against  the  medium,  or  (3)  an  admission  of  the  j 
tenability  of  the  spiritist  hypothesis.  To-day  it  would  j 
be  foolish  to  deny  the  facts,  since  they  can  be  so  easily 
substantiated ;  to  charge  the  medium  with  dishonesty 
would  raise  an  irrelevant  side  issue ;  and,  in  view  of  the 
discoveries  of  modern  science,  the  spiritist  hypothesis 
is  no  longer  tenable.  That  is  to  say,  the  phenomena  can 
now  be  accounted  for  by  reference  to  known  psycho¬ 
logical  laws.  We  may,  therefore,  begin  by  admitting 
all  that  is  embraced  in  the  foregoing  propositions ;  for 
we  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  solution  for  all 
that  is  mysterious  in  the  phenomena  on  principles  of 
natural  law  with  which  scientists  are  now  well  ac¬ 
quainted  —  principles  which  are  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  integrity  of  all  concerned,  and  which,  more¬ 
over,  obviate  all  necessity  for  seeking  a  solution  in  the 
realms  of  the  supermundane. 

It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  say  that  a  perfect  solu- 


130  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

tion  of  all  this  phase  of  spiritistic  phenomena  is  found 
in  the  law  of  suggestion.  This  law  is  known  to  every 
psychological  student,  except  perhaps  a  few  scientists 
who  are  committed  to  the  spiritistic  hypothesis.  For 
their  benefit  I  will  explain  briefly  what  the  law  is.  It 
was  discovered  a  few  years  ago  by  European  scientists 
in  the  course  of  their  investigations  of  the  psychological 
problems  of  hypnotism.  It  was  found  that  hypnotic 
subjects  invariably  accept,  believe,  act  upon,  and  carry 
to  its  legitimate  conclusion  every  statement,  or  “  sug¬ 
gestion,”  that  is  made  to  them.  Thus,  if  a  subject  is 
told  that  he  is  blind,  he  will  manifest  every  symptom 
of  a  total  lack  of  visual  powers.  If  told  that  he  is  deaf, 
the  unexpected  firing  of  a  gun  in  his  presence  does  not 
startle  him.  Apparently  he  does  not  hear  it.  If  told 
that  he  is  an  infant,  “  mewling  and  puking  in  the  nurse’s 
arms,”  he  will  simulate  physical  helplessness  and  an 
infantile  mentality.  In  short,  he  may  be  told  that  he  is  a 
dog  or  a  devil,  a  demon  or  an  angel,  and  he  will  carry 
the  suggestion  to  its  legitimate  conclusion,  so  far  as 
it  is  physically  possible,  firmly  believing  the  suggestion 
to  be  true.  What  is  more  to  our  present  purpose,  if  the 
suggestion  is  made  that  he  is  some  other  individual, 
he  will  impersonate  that  individual  with  wonderful 
accuracy  and  dramatic  power,  the  excellence  of  the 
performance  depending,  of  course,  upon  his  knowledge 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  personage  represented. 
What  is  still  more  suggestive  of  our  theme  is  the  fact 
that  any  good  hypnotic  subject  will  respond  to  the  sug¬ 
gestion  that  he  is  possessed  by  a  spirit;  and,  other 
things  being  equal,  he  will  deliver  messages  from  the 
spirit  suggested  precisely  as  a  genuine  so-called  medium 
would  do  it. 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  131 

These  phenomena,  together  with  innumerable  cog¬ 
nates,  each  pointing  to  the  one  conclusion,  led  to  the 
discovery  of  the  law  of  suggestion.  At  first  it  was 
supposed  to  apply  only  to  persons  in  a  state  of  lucid 
somnambulism,  whether  spontaneous  or  induced;  but 
it  was  eventually  discovered  to  be  a  general  law,  gov¬ 
erning,  at  all  times  and  under  all  conditions,  that  part 
of  man’s  mental  organism  which  is  the  active  agency  in 
the  production  of  all  psychic  phenomena.  Under  the 
theory  of  duality  of  mind,  which  is  now  very  generally 
either  openly  advocated  or  tacitly  admitted  to  be  a  good 
working  hypothesis,  this  intelligence  has  been  variously 
designated  by  psychic  scientists  as  the  “  secondary 
personality,”  the  “  subliminal  consciousness,”  the  “  sub¬ 
conscious  mind,”  the  “  unconscious  mind,”  the  “  subjec¬ 
tive  mind,”  etc.  I  have  ventured  to  adopt  the  term 
“  subjective  mind,”  for  the  reason  that,  unlike  most  of 
the  older  terms,  it  does  not  imply  a  theory  either  of 
causation  or  of  its  relation  to  the  mind  of  ordinary 
waking  consciousness.  Besides,  it  is  the  mind  which  is 
exclusively  concerned  with  subjective  states,  conditions, 
activities,  and  phenomena.  But,  by  whatever  term  it 
may  be  designated,  the  fact  remains  that  it  possesses 
powers  and  faculties  exclusively  its  own,  and  it  is 
hedged  about  by  distinctive  limitations.  Among  the 
former  is  the  power  or  faculty  of  telepathy,  and  among 
the  latter  is  its  constant  amenability  to  control  by  the 
wonderful  power  of  suggestion. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  each  of  the  five  foregoing 
propositions  of  spiritism  may  be  admitted  to  be  true 
without  affecting  adversely  the  argument  against  the 
spiritistic  interpretation  of  the  phenomena.  Indeed, 
there  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  wide  repertoire  of 


132 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


psychic  phenomena  better  illustrations  of  the  potency 
of  suggestion,  or  of  the  universality  of  the  law,  than  are 
found  in  the  phenomena  of  spiritism.  It  is,  therefore, 
unnecessary  to  question  the  sincerity  of  the  medium, 
for  the  reason  that  if  she  is  in  a  subjective  or  trance 
condition  she  is  compelled  to  accept  the  suggestions 
imparted  to  her.  Besides,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
a  medium  commences  her  career  under  the  domi¬ 
nance  of  the  suggestion  that  she  is  dealing  with  spirits. 
Her  education,  her  training,  her  whole  environment, 
lend  their  aid  to  enforce  that  suggestion.  Her  reason 
tells  her  that  it  is  true,  for  she  knows  of  no  other  expla¬ 
nation.  She  has  never  heard  of  the  laws  of  sugges¬ 
tion  ;  or  if  she  has,  she  either  thinks  that  it  does  not 
apply  to  her  case,  or,  more  likely,  she  does  not  compre¬ 
hend  it  at  all.  She  only  knows  that  in  the  trance  con¬ 
dition  she  is  dominated  by  an  intelligence  that  seems 
to  be  independent  of  her  own  control.  It  says  things 
that  she  has  not  consciously  thought  of,  and  it  knows 
things  that  she  does  not  remember  in  her  normal  condi¬ 
tion.  Of  course  she  is  honest  in  her  belief  that  the 
intelligence  manifested  is  just  what  it.  purports  to  be; 
and  of  course  she  is  unconscious  of  having  anything 
to  do  with  the  communications.  Moreover,  she  may 
be  unaware  that  she  possesses  any  psychological  power 
that  would  render  unconscious  participation  possible. 
Thus  it  frequently  happens  that  when  a  medium  reveals 
something  that  is  known  only  to  the  sitter,  she  denies 
the  possession  of  any  telepathic  power  whatever.  Per¬ 
haps  she  has  never  indulged  in  experimental  telepathy, 
per  se,  and  is  honestly  ignorant  of  her  own  psychic 
powers.  In  any  event,  she  is  not  a  logician,  and  does 
not  know  that  she  is  begging  the  question.  But  she  is 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 33 

not  alone  in  that,  for  many  so-called  “  scientists  ”  are 
guilty  of  the  same  logical  offence  when  they  deny  that 
a  good  medium  is  necessarily  a  telepathist. 

In  regard  to  the  wonderful  dramatic  power  often  dis¬ 
played  by  mediums  in  impersonating  an  alleged  spirit, 
enough  has  already  been  said.  It  is  sufficient  to  know 
that  precisely  the  same  results  flow  from  the  same  sug¬ 
gestion  to  a  hypnotized  subject.  But  there  is  one  con¬ 
sideration  that  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  this 
connection. 

Astonishment  has  often  been  provoked  by  the  fact 
that  a  hypnotized  clodhopper,  normally  destitute  of  dra¬ 
matic  ability,  often  displays  wonderful  powers  in  that  di¬ 
rection  when  impersonating  suggested  characters.  The 
same  remark  applies  alike  to  hypnotized  subjects  and  to 
mediums,  and  the  same  explanation  applies  to  both. 
I  venture  to  say  that  much  of  the  mystery  will  disappear 
when  it  is  remembered  that  there  is,  necessarily,  a  wide 
difference  between  conscious  and  unconscious  imperson¬ 
ation.  In  the  former  the  actor  is  normal,  and  is  forced 
to  study  the  character  he  seeks  to  imitate,  to  remem¬ 
ber  every  gesture,  tone  of  voice,  and  mental  peculiarity, 
and  to  consciously  reproduce  the  entire  personality 
of  another.  In  short,  his  effort  is  to  identify  himself 
with  the  personality  he  represents ;  and  in  so  far  as  he 
is  capable  of  doing  so  he  succeeds  as  an  actor.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  psychic,  under  suggestion,  com¬ 
pletely  identifies  himself  with  the  suggested  personality ; 
for  he  believes  himself  to  be  that  person.  In  his  case, 
therefore,  impersonation  is  not  “  acting  ”  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  term  is  usually  understood.  It  is  simply 
following  an  irresistible  impulse  to  carry  the  suggestion 
to  its  logical  conclusion ;  and  this  he  does  easily  and 


134 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


naturally,  just  so  far  as  he  is  acquainted  with  the  char¬ 
acter  assumed  —  but  no  farther.  If,  now,  we  take  into 
consideration  the  wonderful  memory  of  the  subjective 
mind,  together  with  its  potentially  perfect  powers  of 
logical  deduction  from  suggested  premises,  it  will 
readily  be  seen  that  the  law  of  suggestion  affords  a 
perfect  explanation  of  the  facility  with  which  entranced 
mediums  impersonate  the  characters  of  suggested 
spirits. 

Cognate  to  this  question  is  the  fifth  and  last  in  this 
group,  namely.  Why  is  it  that  so-called  “  spirits,”  if 
they  are  not  what  is  represented,  often  antagonize  the 
medium  and  manifest  mental  and  moral  characteristics 
antipodal  to  those  she  is  known  to  possess? 

This  is  a  very  pertinent  and  far-reaching  question; 
^  but  a  perfect  answer  is  easily  found  in  the  same  law  of 
suggestion.  If  we  will  stop  one  moment  to  consider  the 
question,  What  is  the  salient,  dominating  idea  conveyed 
by  the  suggestion  to,  a  medium’s  mind  that  she  is  con¬ 
trolled  by  a  spirit  of  some  deceased  person?  it  will  be 
found  that  the  main  question  answers  itself.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  dominant  idea  conveyed  by  the  sug¬ 
gestion  of  spirit  control  is,  necessarily,  that  the  con¬ 
trolling  mentality  is  extraneous  to,  and  independent  of, 
that  of  the  medium.  The  logical  deduction  is  thatjhe 
medium  is  in  no  wav  responsible  for  the  character  of  the 
manifestations,  and  that,  in  the  multiplicity  of  good  and 
bad  spirits  which  are  supposed  to  surround  every  me¬ 
dium,  she  is  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  seized  upon  by 
some  vagrant  spirit  whose  moral  character  and  philo¬ 
sophical  opinions  may  be  highly  antagonistic  to  her 
own.  In  short,  the  suggestion  of  an  extraneous  per¬ 
sonality  dominating  the  mentality  of  the  medium  neces- 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 35 

sarily  carries  with  it  the  suggestion  of  independence; 
and  the  latter  suggestion  can  be  carried  out  only  by 
occasional  antagonism. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  foregoing  can 
be  demonstrated  by  experimental  hypnotism.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  the  mental  phenomena 
of  spiritism  can  be  reproduced  by  that  means.  It  is,  in 
fact,  well  known  to  many  that  some  of  the  most  cele¬ 
brated  mediums  now  living  have  been  trained  to  their 
work  by  means  of  hypnotism. 

I  have  now  briefly  stated,  and,  I  hope,  fairly  an¬ 
swered,  the  first  group  of  reasons  offered  by  spiritists 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  them.  If  I  have  omitted  any 
important  claim  that  pertains  to  the  personality  of  the 
medium,  I  am  not  aware  of  it,  and  I  would  be  thankful 
to  be  set  right.  I  submit  that  thus  far  I  have  shown  that 
all  that  is  mysterious  is  easily  explicable  by  reference 
to  psychological  laws  with  which  science  is  now  well 
acquainted. 

The  second  group  of  facts  and  phenomena  upon 
which  spiritism  pins  its  faith  pertains  exclusively  to  the 
character  and  contents  of  the  “  communications  ”  re¬ 
ceived  through  entranced  mediums  from  alleged  spirits 
of  the  dead. 

The  salient  features  of  the  messages  which  it  will 
be  necessary  to  examine  may  be  stated  as  follows: 

1.  Statements  of  fact  known  to  the  medium. 

2.  Statements  of  fact  not  known  to  the  medium,  but 
known  to  some  other  person  present. 

3.  Statements  of  fact  known  neither  to  the  medium 
nor  to  any  other  person  present. 

In  the  last  class  may  be  grouped : 

I.  Events  occurring  at  or  before  the  time  the  me.s- 


136  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

sage  is  delivered,  and  known  to  a  relative,  a  friend,  or 
an  acquaintance  of  some  one  present  at  the  sitting. 

2.  Facts  known  only  to  a  deceased  communicator 
during  his  natural  life,  a  friend,  a  relative,  or  an  ac¬ 
quaintance  of  his  being  present. 

3.  Facts  known  only  to  the  alleged  spirit  during  life, 
no  relationship  between  decedent  and  any  one  present 
being  known  to  exist. 

Subsequent  verification  of  the  facts  in  each  case  is, 
of  course,  presupposed. 

Again  I  will  reduce  the  sum  total  of  possible  irrele¬ 
vant  side  issues  by  presupposing  the  medium  to  be 
absolutely  honest,  and  proceeding  at  once  to  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  various  phases  of  the  phenomena  above 
enumerated. 

The  first  class  of  communications,  namely,  those  con¬ 
taining  “  statements  of  facts  known  to  the  medium,”  for 
obvious  reasons  need  not  be  specially  considered  further 
than  to  remark,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers, 
president  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  that 
from  the  medium’s  own  mind  “  the  vast  bulk  of  the 
messages  are  undoubtedly  drawn,  even  when  they  refer 
to  matters  which  the  automatist  once  knew  but  has 
entirely  forgotten.  Whatever  has  gone  into  the  mind 
may  come  out  of  the  mind ;  although  this  automatism 
may  be  the  only  way  of  getting  at  it.” —  (See  Science 
and  a  Future  Life,  p.  32.) 

In  regard  to  the  second  class  of  messages,  namely, 
those  containing  “  statements  of  facts  not  known  to  the 
medium,  but  known  to  some  other  person  present,”  Mr. 
Myers  has  this  to  say :  “  Secondly,  there  is  a  small 
percentage  of  messages  apparently  telepathic,  —  con¬ 
taining,  that  is  to  say,  facts  probably  unknown  to  the 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 37 

automatist,  but  known  to  some  living  person  in  his 
company,  or  connected  with  him.” —  (Ibid.) 

I  have  made  these  quotations  from  Mr,  Myers  for 
three  reasons,  namely.  First,  because  he  is  one  of  the 
ablest  and  fairest  of  the  Psychical  Researchers  who 
have  committed  themselves  to  the  spiritistic  hypothesis. 
Secondly,  because^  he  distinctly  recognizes  telepathy  as 
the  obvious  explanation  of  the  second  class  of  mes¬ 
sages.  Thirdly,  for  the  reason  that,  inasmuch  as  I 
shall  endeavor  to  make  it  clear  that  all  that  is  mys¬ 
terious  in  any  of  the  above-named  classes  of  messages  is 
easily  explicable  under  the  telepathic  theory,  I  wish  first 
to  show  definitely  the  point  where  our  paths  diverge. 

This  parting  of  the  ways  occurs  when  the  third  class 
of  communications  is  reached,  namely,  those  containing 
facts  “  known  neither  to  the  medium  nor  to  any  other 

person  present.” _ It  is  at  this  point  that  the  issue  is 

declared  between  the  two  hypotheses,  —  the  spiritistic 
_^d  the  telepathic.  On  the  one  hand,  spiritists  decline  j 
to  accept  telepathy  as  a  possible  factor  in  the  case  if  no  ) 
one  having  knowledge  of  the  facts  related  by  the  me-  ! 
dium  is  actually  present  at  the  sitting.  On  the  other  ' 
hand,  the  advocates  of  the  telepathic  theory  of  explana¬ 
tion  hold  that  if  any  living  person  who  is  in  telepathic 
rapport  with  any  one  present  has  knowledge  of  the 
facts  related,  we  are  logically  compelled  to  accept  the  tel¬ 
epathic  hypothesis.  This,  of  course,  involves  the 
denial  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  affirmation  on  the  other, 
that  more  than  two  persons  may  be  concerned  in  the 
transmission  of  a  telepathic  message.  And  it  is  upon  the 
settlement  of  this  question  that  the  whole  controversy 
hinges.  Reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  the  question  at 
issue  may  be  thus  stated  affirmatively: 


138  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

If  A  can,  by  any  known  means  of  communication, 
convey  a  message  to  B,  B  can  convey  the  same  message, 
by  the  same  means,  to  C,  other  things,  of  course,  being 
equal. 

The  truth  of  this  proposition  seems  to  be  self-evident. 
It  is  certainly  true  of  all  physical  means  of  communi¬ 
cation.  Why  is  it  not  true  of  telepathy?  is  a  question 
that  spiritists  must  solve  or  be  thrown  out  of  court. 
Telepathy  is  a  known  means  of  communicating  facts 
from  mind  to  mind.  At  least  it  is  known  to  spiritists 
and  Psychical  Researchers,  and  it  is  to  them  that  I  am 
addressing  my  remarks.  If,  then,  A  is  aware  of  a  fact 
and  is  in  telepathic  rapport  with  B,  he  can  communicate 
that  fact  to  B.  When  that  is  done,  the  information 
henceforth  constitutes  a  part  of  the  mental  equipment 
of  B,  who  can,  in  turn,  transmit  the  information  to  C 
(the  medium)  by  the  same  means  by  which  he  received 
it  from  A.  If  not,  why  not? 

This  question  has  been  asked  before.  More  than 
seven  years  has  elapsed  since  this  hypothesis  was  first 
promulgated  and  this  question  asked.  Thus  far  no  one 
has  ventured  an  answer  to  the  question,  or  even  to  state 
the  proposition  fairly.  It  has,  however,  often  been  re¬ 
marked  that  “  it  is  carrying  telepathy  too  far  ” ;  that 
it  “  stretches  the  telepathic  hypothesis  ”  all  out  of  shape, 
or  words  to  that  effect;  that  it  involves  the  supposition 
of  “  infinite  telepathy,”  “  omniscient  telepathy,”  and  so 
forth.  In  other  words,  it  has  thus  far  been  dismissed 
by  spiritists  with  a  Podsnappian  wave  of  the  hand. 
Even  Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  who  believes  in  the  telepathic 
hypothesis,  finds  it  expedient  to  throw  a  sop  to  the 
spiritistic  Cerberus  by  declaring  it  to  be  a  “  wild  hypoth¬ 
esis,”  and  this  as  a  preliminary  to  showing  that  it  is 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 39 

obviously  the  only  tenable  hypothesis  outside  the  realms 
of  superstition.  (See  S.  P.  R.  Proceedings,  No.  36.) 
Mr.  Lang  also  gives  the  hypothesis  a  new  and  somewhat 
formidable  name,  “  telepathic  a  trois,”  which,  being 
interpreted,  means  telepathy  by  three  —  which  is  not  so 
formidable.  {Ibid.)  I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the 
name,  however,  for  it  is  a  very  appropriate  addition  to 
the  terminology  of  psychic  science. 

Now  let  us  briefly  inquire  whether  telepathy  a  trois 
really  stretches  the  telepathic  hypothesis  beyond  rec¬ 
ognition,  or  if  it  deserves  to  be  stigmatized  by  its  friends 
as  a  “  wild  hypothesis.”  We  will  begin,  not  with  a 
spiritistic  seance,  but  with  a  prosaic  experiment  in 
telepathy,  made  in  the  city  of  Washington  a  few  years 
ago,  the  telepathist  being  a  hypnotized  subject.  A 
gentleman  from  New  Orleans  —  almost  a  total  stranger 
—  happened  to  be  present,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
evening  asked  the  telepathist  to  describe  his  (the 
stranger’s)  home  in  New  Orleans.  The  description 
was  made,  and  declared  by  the  gentleman  to  be  perfect 
as  to  all  the  inmates  of  the  house ;  and  the  arrangement 
and  furniture  of  all  the  rooms,  except  the  parlor,  were 
satisfactorily  described,  even  to  some  of  the  pictures  on 
the  walls.  The  parlor,  however,  was  said  to  be  all 
wrong.  The  carpet  and  furniture  were  declared  to  be 
totally  unlike  anything  actually  in  the  room.  The  piano 
was  described  as  an  upright,  whereas  the  gentleman 
said  that  it  was  an  old-fashioned  square  piano.  On  his 
return  home,  however,  he  found  that  the  telepathist 
was  right.  His  wife  had  planned  a  pleasant  surprise 
for  him,  and  had  refurnished  the  parlor  during  his 
absence,  and  installed  a  new  upright  piano,  paying 
for  it  all  out  of  savings  from  her  allowance  of  pin- 


140  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

money.  If  this  was  not  telepathy  a  trois,  will  any 
I  spiritist  tell  me  just  what  it  was?  Is  it  “stretching” 

\  the  telepathic  hypothesis  to  suppose  that  the  husband 
and  wife  were  en  rapport?  Is  it  “  carrying  telepathy 
too  far  ”  to  suppose  that  her  pleasant  anticipations 
of  her  husband’s  return,  and  of  his  agreeable  sur¬ 
prise,  caused  her  to  “  think  of  him  emotionally  ”  ? 
Did  it  require  “  omniscient  telepathy  ”  to  enable  the 
psychic  to  read  all  this  in  the  subjective  mind  of  the 
husband?  In  this  case  spirits  were  out  of  the  ques¬ 
tion,  for  everybody  concerned  was  very  much  alive, 
and  the  hypnotist  and  his  psychic  were  neither  of 
them  spiritists. 

I  once  hypnotized  a  lady  and  asked  her  to  describe 
my  home,  which  she  knew  nothing  of.  She  described 
everything  correctly,  even  a  huge  mastiff  lying  on  a 
bear-skin  rug  on  the  library  floor.  But  doubt  was 
thrown  upon  her  lucidity  when  she  described  the  library 
desk  as  being  covered  with  a  white  cloth,  and  said  that 
a  lady  was  sitting  at  the  desk,  “  doing  something  ” 
which  she  could  not  clearly  make  out.  As  my  desk  is 
covered  with  black  cloth,  and  as  ladies  seldom  work  at 
it,  I  regarded  the  description  as  an  effort  at  guessing. 
But  on  my  return  home  I  learned  that  my  wife  had  been 
“  doing  something  ”  with  pulverized  sugar,  and  had 
covered  the  table  with  newspapers  to  prevent  accidents 
to  the  black  cloth.  As  that  was  the  only  time  in  the 
long  history  of  my  library  desk  that  it  had  been  so 
covered  or  so  employed,  I  cannot  ascribe  the  phenom¬ 
enon  to  coincidence.  Nor  can  I  think  of  any  other 
way  of  explaining  it  than  on  the  theory  of  telepathy 
d  trois. 

Some  one,  however,  may  say  that  “  clairvoyance  ” 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  141 

affords  an  easy  explanation  of  both  these  incidents. 
But  if  he  is  not  aware  that  clairvoyance  itself  is  ex¬ 
plicable  only  on  the  telepathic  hypothesis,  I  refer  him 
to  such  incidents  as  that  related  by  Mr.  Lang  in  the 
article  above  referred  to.  In  a  crystal-gazing  experi¬ 
ment  in  London  the  psychic  saw  a  vision  of  something 
that  had  happened  to  one  of  Mr.  Lang’s  friends  in 
India  several  days  previous  to  the  date  of  the  experi¬ 
ment.  It  was  subsequently  verified,  and  Mr.  Lang 
refers  to  it  as  a  case  of  telepathy  a  trois,  and  also  as  one 
which  excluded  both  the  spiritistic  and  the  “  clairvoy¬ 
ance  ”  hypotheses,  since  all  were  alive,  and  the  event 
happened  several  days  before  the  vision  was  seen  in  the 
crystal. 

Now  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  phenomena  cog¬ 
nate  to  the  foregoing  are  produced  every  day  in  the 
year,  wherever  telepathic  experiments  are  intelligently 
conducted.  They  are  largely  unnoted  and  unrecorded, 
for  their  supreme  evidential  value  and  importance  are 
not  generally  understood  or  appreciated.  That  is  to  say, 
there  are  few  among  the  thousands  who  are  conducting 
experiments  in  telepathy,  and  still  fewer  of  those  who 
are  invoking  the  spirits  of  the  dead  through  mediums, 
who  realize  that  upon  the  settlement  of  the  question  of 
telepathy  d  trois  depends  the  scientific  and  logical  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  whole  problem  of  alleged  spirit  intercourse 
with  the  living  through  so-called  mediums.  And  this 
I  unhesitatingly  affirm  to  be  true ;  for  if  it  is  true 
that  a  fact  communicated  by  one  person  to  another  by- 
means  of  telepathy  can  then  be  transmitted  by  the 
second  to  a  third  person  by  the  same  means,  it  affords 
an  obvious  and  easy  telepathic  explanation  of  every 
alleged  spirit  communication  that  has  ever  been  re- 


142 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


corded.  A  very  few  words  will  suffice  to  explain  my 
meaning. 

I  have  already  shown  how  the  hypothesis  applies  to 
events  occurring  at  or  before  the  time  the  message  is 
delivered,  and  known  to  a  relative,  a  friend,  or  an  ac¬ 
quaintance  of  some  one  present,  the  spirit  hypothesis 
being  excluded  by  the  fact  that  all  concerned  were 
living,  —  the  only  further  remark  necessary  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  cases  arising  under  this  head  being  that  since 
telepathy  a  trois  furnishes  a  complete  explanation  of  the 
telepathic  experiments  related,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
any  valid  reason  for  changing  the  explanation,  even  if 
the  sitting  had  been  called  a  spirit  seance.  Thus  the 
suggestion  to  the  psychics  in  either  of  the  foregoing 
cases  that  spirits  were  present  to  show  them  the  rooms 
would  have  resulted  precisely  as  it  did  result.  Again, 
the  suggestion  might  have  been  that  the  psychics  were 
“  clairvoyant,”  and  the  results  would  have  been  identi¬ 
cal.  The  rooms  would  have  been  described  as  clearly 
under  any  one  suggestion  as  under  any  other  in  the 
list.  The  difference,  then,  lies  wholly  in  the  suggestion 
made  to  the  psychic,  and  not  in  the  facts.  Is  it  conceiv¬ 
able  that  the  explanation  varies  with  the  suggestion 
under  which  the  psychic  happens  to  do  the  work?  If 
not,  there  must  be  some  one  explanation  applicable  to  all 
forms  and  kinds  of  suggestion,  and  the  only  tenable 
solution  is  necessarily  one  that  rests  on  a  vera  causa. 
I  submit  that  the  telepathic  explanation  is  the  only  one 
that  is  thus  sustained.  That  is  to  say,  we  know  telepathy 
to  be  a  power  of  the  subjective  mind,  and  we  know  that 
all  psychics  assume  the  hypothesis  suggested  to  them, 
whether  it  be  spirit  control,  or  clairvoyance,  or  telepathy 
pure  and  simple.  I  submit  that  we  have  neither  logical 


SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 43 

right  nor  occasion  to  ascribe  to  supermundane  origin 
any  phenomenon  that  is  explicable  by  reference  to  effi¬ 
cient  causes  that  we  know  to  exist,  inherent,  in  the 
minds  of  living  people. 

The  next  class  on  the  list,  namely,  communications 
embracing  facts  known  only  to  the  deceased  during  his 
life,  a  relative  or  a  friend  being  present  at  the  sitting, 
can  easily  be  accounted  for  on  the  theory  of  telepathy 
h  trois,  since  friends,  relatives,  and  acquaintances  are 
well  known  to  be,  potentially,  en  rapport  at  all  times. 
The  facts  in  the  supposed  case  may  have  been  tele- 
pathically  communicated  years  before  the  death  of  the 
agent;  but  as  the  memory  of  the  subjective  mind  is 
potentially  perfect,  the  facts  may  be  drawn  forth  by 
telepathic  agency  at  any  subsequent  time  under  proper 
conditions.  There  are,  however,  many  cases,  apparently 
belonging  to  this  class,  where  the  sitter’s  ignorance  of 
the  facts  is  due  to  forgetfulness.  In  other  words,  he 
may  have  known  the  facts  and  entirely  forgotten  them. 
As  Mr.  Myers  justly  remarks,  “  whatever  has  gone 
into  the  mind  may  come  out  of  the  mind.”  Such  a  case, 
however,  would  not  be  telepathy  a  trois.  But  it  would 
be  obtaining  telepathic  information  residing  exclusively 
in  the  subjective  mind  —  or,  as  Mr.  Myers  would  say, 
the  “  subliminal  consciousness  ”  —  of  the  sitter.  And 
so  would  the  same  information  received  telepathically 
by  the  same  sitter  reside  exclusively  in  his  subjective 
mind.  Will  some  good  spiritist  please  explain  why 
information  can  be  drawn  from  the  sitter’s  mind  by 
means  of  telepathy  in  one  case  and  not  in  the  other? 
Prima  facie  the  conditions  are  parallel,  except  as  to  the 
means  by  which  the  sitter  obtained  the  information; 
and  I  submit  that  the  onus  probandi  rests  upon  the 


144  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

:  advocates  of  the  spiritistic  hypothesis.  To  shift  that 
;  burden  they  must  demonstrate  that  telepathy  d  trots  is 
'  impossible.  Until  that  is  done  they  have  no  logical 
standing  in  a  court  of  inductive  inquiry. 

This  brings  us  to  the  only  remaining  class  of  com¬ 
munications,  namely,  those  which  embrace  statements 
of  facts  which  were  known  only  to  the  deceased  during 
his  life,  no  relationship  between  him  and  any  one 
present  being  traceable. 

Obviously  such  cases  present  great  difficulties,  not 
the  least  of  which  would  be  the  verification  of  the  al¬ 
leged  facts.  Thus,  if  a  spirit  should  present  himself 
to  a  company  of  total  strangers,  it  would  be  very  diffi¬ 
cult  to  verify  anything  that  he  might  say.  But  should 
that  difficulty  be  surmounted,  it  would  be  practically 
impossible  to  prove  that  all  knowledge  of  the  fact  was 
confined  to  the  deceased ;  and  it  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  to  prove  that  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  was 
not  possessed  by  some  one  who  was  in  telepathic  rap¬ 
port  with  somebody  present  at  the  sitting.  And  yet, 
assuming  that  telepathy  a  trots  is  a  valid  explanation  of 
all  the  other  classes  of  phenomena  in  the  list,  all  this 
negative  proof  would  logically  be  required  in  order  to 
justify  the  conclusion  that  the  obscure  cases,  cognate  to 
all  the  others  as  they  are  in  every  essential  particular, 
are  governed  by  different  laws  and  originated  in  a  dif¬ 
ferent  world.  In  other  words,  having  shown  that  in  all 
cases  where  the  facts  are  known  the  telepathic  hypoth- 
:  esis  affords  an  easy  and  an  obviously  true  explanation 
of  the  phenomena,  we  have  a  logical  right  to  assume, 
until  the  contrary  is  demonstrated,  that  were  the  facts 
known  in  the  obscure  cases  the  same  explanation  would 
be  equally  obvious. 


i 

SPIRITISTIC  PHENOMENA  AS  EVIDENCE  1 45 

The  importance  of  this  rule  of  evidence  will  be  appar¬ 
ent  upon  reflection ;  for  it  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the 
adoption  of  a  contrary  rule  would  be  the  logical  equiv¬ 
alent  of  a  distinct  repudiation  of  the  inductive  method 
of  research.  And  this  is  precisely  what  is  done  in  the 
highest  spiritistic  circles  to-day,  little  of  importance 
being  heard  from  that  source  aside  from  voluminous 
dissertations  upon  the  immense  evidential  value  of  the 
obscure  cases.  That  is  to  say,  in  every  case  v/here 
telepathic  connections,  owing  to  ignorance  of  environ¬ 
mental  conditions,  are  not  entirely  obvious  and  indis¬ 
putable,  they  are  instant  in  the  declaration  that  that 
particular  phenomenon  is  demonstrative  of  the  truth 
of  the  spiritistic  hypothesis. 

Considered  as  a  method  of  inductive  inquiry,  this  is 
certainly  unique.  It  is  not  a  new  proposition  that  “  ig¬ 
norance  is  the  mother  of  superstition  ” ;  but  it  can  safely 
be  asserted  that  since  the  day  when  Bacon  taught  the 
scientific  world  the  value  of  a  fact,  this  is  the  first  time 
that  ignorance  of  facts  has  been  assumed  to  constitute 
valid  inductive  evidence  of  the  existence  of  supermun¬ 
dane  beings. 

This  part  of  the  claims  of  spiritism,  however,  may 
be  safely  left  to  take  care  of  itself  when  the  vital  issue 
is  settled.  That,  as  I  have  pointed  out  before,  relates 
wholly  to  the  question  whether  information  received 
telepathically  can  be  transmitted  to  a  third  person  by 
the  same  means.  If  that  question  is  settled  affirma¬ 
tively,  together  with  all  its  implications,  antecedent  and 
consequent,  it  will  be  simply  impossible  to  imagine  a 
case  that  would  not  be  explicable  under  the  telepathic 
hypothesis.  That  the  proposition  is  true,  I  cannot  en¬ 
tertain  a  doubt ;  and  so  believing,  I  can  but  regard 

10 


146  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

the  logical  attitude  of  spiritism  as  grossly  violative 
of  that  fundamental  axiom  of  science  which  denies 
our  logical  right  to  seek  in  supermundane  realms  for 
causes  that  can  be  found  in  the  domain  of  natural 
law. 


V 


SPIRITISM  AND  TELEPATHY  AS  INVOLVED 
IN  THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  LEONORA  E. 
PIPER  1 


IN  constructing  a  title  for  this  paper,  I  have  not  been 
impelled  to  use  the  name  of  Mrs.  Piper  because  I 
imagine  that  her  recent  statement  in  the  New 
York  Herald  has  settled  the  question  of  spiritism 
adversely  to  the  claims  of  that  cultus.  I  have  not  so 
high  an  estimate  of  the  value  of  her  opinion.  Nor  do 
I  agree  with  her  spiritistic  enemies  in  holding  that  her 
opinion  is  valueless  because  of  the  amnesia  incident  to 
trance.  This,  at  most,  would  place  her  on  a  level  with 
outsiders,  —  and  this  is  their  contention.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  not  only  was  Mrs.  Piper 
present  at  all  her  seances,  but  that  she  had  the  benefit 
of  subsequent  discussions  of  her  phenomena  by  the  able 
savants  who  had  her  in  charge,  and  that  she  must  have 
read  their  subsequent  reports  with  much  more  than 
ordinary  interest  and  intelligence.  Moreover,  we  must 
not  forget  that  she  has  been  subjected,  on  two  hemi¬ 
spheres,  and  during  nearly  a  score  of  years,  to  a  key¬ 
hole  espionage  by  the  ablest  detectives  of  the  London 
Society  for  Psychical  Research ;  and  that  she  has 

1  Read  before  the  Psychological  Section  and  the  Medico-Legal 
Society  in  joint  session,  Dec.  i8,  1901. 


148 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


emerged  triumphant,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  —  not 
a  shadow  of  a  suspicion  xesting  . upon  her  character  in  any 
relation  of  life.  Testimonials  to  this  effect  from  all  the 
leading  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
have  been  numerous  and  voluminous,  and  almost  hys¬ 
terical  in  their  insistence;  so  that  she  stands  before  the 
public  to-day,  secure  in  the  possession  of  the  highest 
possible  credentials  in  proof  of  her  absolute  honesty, 
integrity,  and  purity.  It  is  also  in  evidence  that  she  is 
liberally  endowed  with  that  rarest  of  all  mental  attri¬ 
butes-,  —  common  sense,  —  the  inseparable  concomitant 
of  the  cardinal  virtues.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  the  opinion 
of  a  woman  thus  endowed,  and  thus  fortified  by  all  that 
gives  sanction  to  human  testimony,  and  who  necessarily 
knows  more  than  any  one  else  can  know  of  the  workings 
of  her  own  inner  consciousness,  is  not  of  greater  value 
than  the  opinion  of  an  outsider. 

Nevertheless,  as  before  remarked,  her  opinion  does 
not  settle  the  question ;  and  in  this  respect  she  remains 
on  a  par  with  all  who  have  opinions  on  the  subject.  It 
is  not,  therefore,  because  of  her  interpretation  of  her 
own  phenomena  that  I  use  her  name;  but  because  the 
investigation  of  those  phenomena  by  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of 
Spiritism.  It  is  of  that  investigation  that  I  propose 
to  offer  a  few  remarks.  In  doing  so  I  shall  not  attempt 
an  exhaustive  criticism  of  the  methods  of  investigation 
employed  by  the  members  of  that  society.  I  shall  merely 
attempt  to  point  out  briefly  what  I  conceive  to  be  the 
proper  method  of  studying  the  phenomena  in  the  light 
of  their  latest  reports  detailing  the  proceedings  at  the 
Piper  seances. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  scientific  investi- 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


149 


gation  of  modern  spiritism  have  the  conditions  been  so 
favorable  for  the  production  of  decisive  results,  one 
way  or  the  other,  as  in  this  case.  An  ideal  “  medium,” 
mentally,  morally,  and  psychically  considered,  is  con-  , 
ceded,  —  nay,  strenuously  insisted  upon,  —  by  all  the 
investigators.  She  has  been  absolutely  under  their  con¬ 
trol  during  a  long  series  of  years,  and  necessarily  free 
from  the  adverse  influence  of  the  Philistines.  That  the 
investigators  are  also  all  that  can  be  desired  will  be  as 
freely  conceded.  They  are  all  gentlemen  of  great  abil¬ 
ity,  uncompromising  integrity,  and  vast  learning.  .  Best 
and  most  important  of  all,  they  have  a  thoroughly  logi¬ 
cal  appreciation  of  what  it  is  necessary  to  prove  in  order 
to  establish  the  claims  of  spiritism.  That  is  to  say,  they 
know  that  the  one  thing  needful  is  proof  of  personal 
identity  on  the  part  of  ^e  soi-disant  “  spirits  ”  who 
“  communicate.”  In  this  all-important  attitude  they  \ 
stand  in  violent  contrast  to  that  long  line  of  so-called  ' 
“  scientific  investigators,”  on  either  side  of  the  question,  1 
who  have  imagined,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  essential  . 
claims  of  spiritism  can  be  established  by  verifying  the  i 
physical  phenomena ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  those  : 
claims  can  be  disproved  by  catching  a  trickster  in  the  ^ 
act  of  simulating  psychical  phenomena  by  legerdemain.  - 
In  other  words,  they  know  that  the  purely  physical  phe¬ 
nomena  of  spiritism  possess  not  the  slightest  evidential 
value,  pending  the  settlement  of  the  all-inclusive  ques¬ 
tion  of  personal  identity.  They  know,  for  instance,  that 
if  a  piano  should  be  levitated  to  the  ceiling  without 
physical  contact  or  mechanical  appliances,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  household  furniture  should  go  into  convul¬ 
sions,  the  question  would  still  remain  whether  the  en¬ 
ergy  displayed  proceeded  from  discarnate  spirits,  or  was 


150  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

due  to  the  “psychic  force”  (Crookes)  of  the  medium. 
Hence  they  have  wisely  detesmined  to  ignore  all  physi¬ 
cal  phenomena,  and  to  confine  their  attention  to  such 
mediums  as  Mrs.  Piper,  through  whom,  according  to 
the  spiritistic  hypothesis,  spirits  can  establish  their 
identity  by  direct  conversation  with  the  sitter. 

It  is  but  simple  justice  to  the  British  members  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  to  say  that  to  them  the 
credit  is  due  for  thus  divesting  the  subject  of  all  those 
irrelevant  side  issues  which  have  heretofore  served  but 
to  obscure  the  real  question.  It  is,  however,  with  a  glow 
of  patriotic  pride  that  we  recall  the  fact  that  they  were 
compelled  to  come  to  this  country  for  an  honest  me¬ 
dium,  and  to  draw  upon  our  universities  for  a  man 
capable  of  conducting  a  spiritistic  propaganda  in  the 
highest  style  of  the  art.  It  is  but  a  matter  of  common 
justice  to  say  that  Professor  Hyslop  is  the  ablest  psy¬ 
chical  researcher  who  has  yet  attempted  a  personal  in- 
vestigation  of  the  Piper  phenomena.  He  is  the  peer  of 
the  best  in  scholastic  attainments ;  he  is  professor  of  logic 
in  Columbia  University ;  his  honesty  is  transparent,  and 
the  report  of  his  investigations  covers  649  pages  of  the 
Proceedmgs  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 

If,  therefore,  he  has  failed  to  make  a  case  for  spirit¬ 
ism,  one  never  can  be  made  this  side  of  the  borderland ; 
for  there  probably  can  never  again  be  assembled  under 
one  roof  such  a  combination  of  favorable  conditions 
and  instrumentalities.  If  there  was  an  unsound  element 
in  the  combination  it  did  not  reside  with  the  medium, 
nor  in  the  character  or  ability  or  attainments  of  the 
investigator.  Nor  do  I  see  the  slightest  reason  for 
distrusting  his  statements  of  fact.  His  deficiencies, 
therefore,  if  any  are  to  be  found,  must  be  either  in 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  151 

logic,  or  in  the  prop3e_deutics  of  psychic  science,  or  in 
both. 

The  discussion  of  the  subject  will  be  conducted  under 
two  heads:  i,  The  issue  that  Professor  Hyslop  has 
defined ;  and  2,  The  issue  that  Professor  Hyslop  has 
ignored. 

Referring  at  large  to  the  phenomena  detailed  in  his 
report,  Professor  Hy^op  says : 

“  The  issue  that  is  presented  here  is  simply  whether 
spiritism,  or  telepathy  from  living  persons  exclusively, 
is  the  more  rational  hypothesis  to  account  for  the  facts.” 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  learned  professor  of  logic 
assumes  at  the  outset  that  the  two  hypotheses  stand  on 
an  equal  footing,  thus  forgetting  for  the  moment  the 
logical  axiom  that  supermundane  causes  must  never  be 
assigned  to  phenomena  so  long  as  they  or  their  cognates 
are  explicable  by  reference  to  known  natural  causes. 

To  hold  spiritism  strictly  to  this  rule,  however,  would 
be  to  end  the  discussion  before  it  begins,  for  all  admit 
that  the  “great  bulk”  (Myers)  of  the  supernormally 
acquired  knowledge  of  mediums  is  due  to  telepathy.  It 
would,  therefore,  require  demonstrative  proof  to  over¬ 
come  the  logical  implication  that  all  such  knowledge 
is  not  thus  acquired;  just  as  it  would  require  the  pro¬ 
duction  and  public  exhibition  of  a  “  white  crow  ” 
(James)  to  prove  that  crows  are  not  all  black.  It 
would,  however,  require  but  one  white  crow  for  that 
purpose,  and  it  would  require  but  one  demonstrated 
case  of  survival  of  personal  consciousness  after  the 
death  of  the  body  to  prove  the  essential  claim  of  spirit¬ 
ism,  —  a  future  life.  But  this  one  case  has  not  yet 
been  produced,  and  Professor  Hyslpp-  is  /rank  enough 
to_  admit  that  he  has  demonstrated  Nothing,  •  ( See  note 


152  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

on  p.  4  of  his  report.)  The  issue,  therefore,  as  he  has 
defined  it,  is  conservative  and  legitimate. 

To  prepare  one  for  an  intelligent  discussion  of  the 
question  whetlier  spiritism  or  telepathy  is  the  more 
rational  hypothesis  to  account  for  the  phenomena  pro¬ 
duced  by  Mrs.  Piper,  it  would  seem  that  the  essential 
prerequisite  would  be  a  knowledge  (i)  of  the  facilities 
and  the  difficulties,  real  or  supposed,  incident  to  com¬ 
municating  with  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  (2)  of  the 
methods,  powers,  and  limitations  of  telepathic  com¬ 
munication  between  living  persons.  Unfortunately  we 
can  know  nothing  of  the  former  except  what  spiritists 
tell  us ;  and  their  stories  are  so  contradictory  that  it  is 
impossible  for  the  layman  to  assign  any  certain  limits 
to  the  difficulties  or  to  the  facilities.  Thus,  the  old 
spiritists  tell  us  that  communication  is  always  easy,  pro¬ 
vided  we  have  a  good  medium  and  a  harmonious  en¬ 
vironment.  The  late  Professor  Hare,  for  instance, 
found  no  difficulty  whatever  in  organizing  a  “  convo¬ 
cation  of  spirits  ”  of  the  ablest  dead  men  he  could  think 
of,  who  cheerfully  submitted  to  a  prolonged  catechism. 
To  say  that  Professor  Hare  learned  from  that  “  convo¬ 
cation,”  and  others  equally  well  posted,  all  that  was 
worth  knowing  about  the  spirit  land  and  other  things, 
would  be  to  limit  unduly  the  scope  of  the  acquired  in¬ 
formation.  Judge  Edmunds  was  equally  fortunate  in 
obtaining  authentic  information,  not  only  of  the  geog¬ 
raphy  and  topography  of  the  spirit  land,  but  of  its 
current  philosophy;  whilst  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  suc¬ 
ceeded,  without  apparent  effort,  in  tapping  the  philoso¬ 
phers  of  all  the  ages  for  material  for  upwards  of  thirty 
volumes  of  most  remarkable  literature.  Thousands  of 
others  were  equally  fortunate  in  obtaining  access  to  the 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


153 


inhabitants  of  all  the  spheres.  Nor  were  the  spirits 
themselves  in  the  habit  of  complaining  of  lack  of  fa¬ 
cilities,  even  when  a  Daniel  Webster  addressed  his 
sitters  in  the  language  of  a  stevedore;  or  Noah  Webster 
spelled  Jehovah  with  a  little  g,  or  Lindley  Murray  split 
his  infinitives  into  kindling-wood.  The  enemy  might 
blaspheme,  and  to  do  them  entire  justice  they  did,  but 
the  spirits  themselves  were  oblivious  to  all  such  degen¬ 
erative  implications.  They  did  not  complain  of  diffi¬ 
culties  of  communication,  nor  of  the  failure  of  “  light,” 
nor  of  infirmities  due  to  their  last  illness  of  the  body, 
nor  of  the  failure  of  memory,  nor  of  any  of  the  multi¬ 
form  infirmities  which  afflict  Mrs.  Piper’s  familiar 
spirits  when  submitting  to  a  scientific  examination.  It 
is  true  that  there  were  occasional  lapses  of  memory,  as 
when  Socrates  forgot  that  he  had  been  a  Greek  philoso¬ 
pher,  when  proudly  recalling  his  career  as  a  Roman 
Senator.  This  lapse,  however,  was  afterwards  ex¬ 
plained  by  an  erudite  spiritist  by  saying  that  those  “  old 
fellows  ”  have  been  dead  so  long  that  they  have  for¬ 
gotten  the  “  unimportant  particulars  ”  of  their  earthly 
lives.  Satisfactpry  as  this  explanation  is  to  spiritists, 
it  does  not  explain  the  amnesia  of  another  spirit  at  the 
same  sitting  who  had  forgotten  his  own  middle  name 
within  a  year  after  entering  the  spirit  land.  Nor  does 
it  explain  the  prompt  response  of  “  Cantharides,  the 
Greek  philosopher,”  when  that  coleopterous  “  person¬ 
ality  ”  was  summoned  by  a  waggish  Philistine.  That, 
however,  was  easily  explained  by  the  statement  that 
there  are  always  spirits  present  at  seances  who  delight 
in  serving  the  cause  of  Truth  by  promptly  “  meeting 
fraud  with  fraud.”  In  the  logic  of  spiritism  this  for¬ 
mula  has  always  occupied  a  foremost  place,  and  it  still 


154 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


performs  yeoman’s  service  whenever  a  fictitious  person¬ 
age  responds  with  alacrity  to  a  summons. 

But  then,  as  now,  there  were  mediums  and  mediums. 
Some  were  ignorant,  and  others  were  educated.  Some 
of  them  were  destitute  of  the  ability  to  acquire  informa¬ 
tion  by  supernormal  means  ;  whilst  others  could  at  times 
correctly  name  the  strangers  present  at  their  seances, 
and  describe  and  name  a  long  list  of  their  friends,  liv¬ 
ing  or  dead.  At  other  times  the  same  mediums  would 
fail  miserably.  In  a  word,  the  same  diversity  of  me- 
diumistic  powers  prevailed  then  as  now ;  the  same 
“  harmonious  conditions  ”  were  requisite ;  and  supernor- 
mally  acquired  knowledge  on  the  part  of  mediums  was 
even  more  common  than  it  is  to-day.  But  there  was 
one  significant  circumstance  connected  with  early  me- 
diumship  that  does  not  prevail  at  this  time;  and  that  is 
that  modem  spiritism  found  a  host  of  ready  trained 
psychics  in  the  mesmeric  subjects  of  that  epoch.  Mes¬ 
merism  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  popularity,  mesmeric 
subjects  were  numerous,  and  under  mesmeric  methods 
telepathic  powers  were  easily  developed,  and  the  ex¬ 
hibition  of  those  powers  was  commonly  the  piece  de 
resistance  of  the  stage  curriculum.  But  the  significant 
part  of  it  was  that,  not  only  was  every  mesmeric  subject 
foun^  tq  be  _a,. good  medium,  but  the  best  of  the  me¬ 
diums,  that  is  to  say,  those  who  could  demonstrate  their 
possession  of  knowledge  supernormally  acquired,  were 
for  a  long  time  drawn  almost  exclusively  from  those 
whose  telepathic  powers  had  been  previously  developed 
by  mesmeric  methods.  This  fact  was  noted  at  the  time 
by  the  opponents  of  spiritism,  and  telepathy  was  thus 
shown  to  afford  an  easy  explanation  of  all  supernor¬ 
mally  acquired  information.  Indeed,  Dr.  Dods,  a  noted 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


155 


mesmerist  of  that  day,  paralleled  every  phase  of  that 
class  of  spiritistic  phenomena  by  the  employment  of 
mesmeric  psychics  and  processes.  With  Dr.  Dods  it 
was  but  the  a  b  c  of  mesmerism  to  develop  telepathic 
powers  in  his  subjects  so  perfectly  that  they  could  cor¬ 
rectly  describe  events  wholly  unknown  to  the  psychic 
or  to  any  other  person  present.  And  this  is  all  that 
tfie^  best  mediums  can  ever  do.  It  is  all  that  spiritists 
claim  can  be  done  in  proof  of  personal  identity.  It  is 
true  that  in  experimental  telepathy  the  “  dramatic  play 
of  personality  ”  is  necessarily  lacking.  Of  this  “  dra¬ 
matic  play  ”  Professor  Hyslop  discourses  exhaustively, 
seemingly  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  trance  subjects  are 
dominated  by  the  inexorable  law  of  suggestion ;  and 
that  any  suggested  character  will  always  be  dramatically 
personated,  and  with  marvellous  fidelity  to  the  original, 
be  it  a  dog  or  a  philosopher,  a  spirit  of  health  or  a 
goblin  damned. 

This,  however,  is  a  digression.  The  point  I  wish 
remembered  is  that  the  alleged  difficulties  of  communi¬ 
cation  by  spirits  seem  to  be  widely  variant ;  and  that 
the  facility  in  each  case  appears  to  be  proportioned,  not 
to  the  mental  capacity  of  the  spirit,  but  to  the  psychic 
powers  qf  the  medium._  This,  to  say  the  least,  is  not 
what  one  would  naturally  expect,  if  the  communications 
were  from  spirits.  But  we  know  that  if  the  phenomena 
are  to  be  explained  by  telepathy,  the  psychic  powers 
of  the  medium  must  necessarily  be  the  measure  of 
limitation. 

But,  as  before  remarked,  it  is  impossible  to  know 
what  are  the  difficulties  which  beset  communicators 
from  other  worlds  than  ours.  One  thing,  however, 
appears  to  be  beyond  question,  if  we  are  to  accept  the 


156  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

testimony  of  spiritists,  and  that  is  that  the  spirits  are  as 
voluble  as  fishwives  when  they  tell  us  something  that 
can  neither  be  verified  nor  disproved;  but  when  sub¬ 
jected  to  anything  like  a  scientific  investigation  their 
volubility  is  succeeded  by  a  remarkable  want  of  facility 
of  clear  and  unequivocal  expression,  and  they  are 
troubled  by  a  constantly  recurring  failure  of  “  light.” 
At  critical  moments  their  memory  fails  them,  and  they 
forget  their  own  names  and  those  of  their  nearest  rel¬ 
atives.  At  other  times,  however,  they  have  lucid  inter¬ 
vals,  the  light  is  clear,  and  they  can  give  names  and 
dates  with  great  facility,  besides  giving  information 
that  neither  the  psychic  nor  the  sitters  could  have  pre¬ 
viously  obtained  through  sensory  channels. 

These  are  some  of  the  salient  features  of  the  limita¬ 
tion  and  of  the  power  displayed  by  Mrs.  Piper’s  spirits 
for  the  benefit  of  science  and  Professor  Hyslop.  And 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection  that  special 
facilities  were  provided  in  his  case  for  easy,  free,  and 
unlimited  communication,  without  reference  to  the  in¬ 
firmities  that  might  happen  to  afflict  the  particular 
spirits  called  for.  To  that  end_two  great  spirits  were 
imported  from  England  to  act  as  amanuenses  and 
advisers  generally.  They  were  specially  well  qualified 
by  experience,  having  already  acquired  an  international 
reputation  by  acting  in  the  capacity  of  familiars  of  the 
late_W.  Stainton  Moses.  They  were  good,  and  wise, 
and  great ;  and  their  names,  respectively,  were  ”  Im- 
perator  ”  and  “  Rector,”  —  names  well  calculated  to 
impress.  That  they  were  good  is  evidenced  by  their 
uniformly  pious  language  and  deportment.  That  they 
were  wise  is  shown  by  their  refusal  to  reveal  their  own 
identity.  That  they  were  great  is  demonstrated  by  the 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


157 


fact  that  they  had,  before  emigrating  to  America,  evolved 
a  system  of  spiritistic  philosophy  that  converted  an  Eng¬ 
lish  orthodox  clergyman  from  the  error  of  his  ways. 

Manifestly  the  performance  of  such  a  feat  must  have 
required  unlimited  facilities  for  communication,  plenty 
of  light,  a  retentive  memory,  and  an  unfailing  vocabu¬ 
lary.  And  it  is  in  evidence  that  they  had  all  these,  and 
much  more,  under  the  mediumship  of  Stainton  Moses. 
J3ut  it  was  all  in  violent  contrast  with  the  paralytic 
conditions  prevailing  under  the  Piper-Hyslop  regime. 
I  think  that  spiritists  will  agree  with  me  that  the  con¬ 
trast  is  due  to  variant  mediumistic  powers,  rather  than 
to  varying  facilities  for  knowing  things,  and  com¬ 
municating  them,  on  the  part  of  the  same  spirits.  If, 
then,  it  is  due  to  the  variant  psychic  powers  of  the 
mediums,  I  have  a  right  to  assume,  provisionally,  at 
least,  that  the  limitations,  always  most  in  evidence  when 
personal  identity  is  in  question,  are  the  limitations  of 
telepathy  between  living  persons. 

This  leads  us  to  the  second  branch  of  our  inquiry, 
namely,  as  to  “  the  methods,  powers,  and  limitations  of 
telepathic  communications  between  living  persons.” 

As  I  promised  merely  to  suggest  in  this  paper  the 
proper  method  of  studying  Professor  Plyslop’s  report 
from  a  scientific  standpoint,  I  shall,  in  pursuing  this 
branch  of  the  inquiry,  cite  but  a  few  illustrative  ex¬ 
amples  showing  that  the  successes  and  the  failures  of 
his  alleged  “  communicators  ”  were  just  such  as  are 
incident  to  telepathic  communications. 

The  following  propositions  are  too  well  authenticated 
and  understood  by  all  intelligent  psychical  researchers 
to  require  proofs  to  sustain  them : 

(i)  Telepathy  is  a  power  belonging  exclusively  to 


158 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  subjective  mind,  or  the  “_subliminal  self,”  as  it  is 
frequently  designated  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re¬ 
search.  That  is  to  say,  the  objective  mind,  or  “  supra¬ 
liminal  self,”  which  is  the  mind  of  ordinary  waking 
consciousness,  is  not  necessarily  aware  of  the  content  of 
the  subjective  mind.  Hence  the  phenomenon  of  “  latent 
memory,”  as  Sir  William  Hamilton  designated  it  many 
years  ago.  That  is,  knowledge  once  acquired  may  re¬ 
main  latent  in  the  subjective  mind  for  an  indefinite 
period.  It  may,  however,  be  elevated  above  the  thresh¬ 
old  of  normal  consciousness  in  many  ways,  as  by  auto¬ 
matic  writing,  etc,,  or  it  may  be  reached  by  telepathy. 

(2)  Telepathic  powers  are  best  developed  under 
abnormal  conditions,  as  in  trance,  or  in  spontaneous  or 
induced  somnambulism. 

(3)  These  powers  vary  in  efficiency  with  different 
psychics,  and  in  the  same  psychic  they  vary  at  different 
times,  and  under  varying  conditions  which  are  not  yet 
clearly  defined. 

(4)  Rapport  is,  of  course,  always  necessary;  but  the 
essential  conditions  of  rapport  are  not  yet  clearly  under¬ 
stood.  It  is  known,  however,  that  relatives  and  friends 
are  either  actually  or  potentially  en  rapport  at  all  times. 

These  fundamental  facts  will  not  be  disputed;  and 
when  they  are  considered  in  connection  with  the  pro¬ 
digious —  if  not  perfect  —  memory  of  the  subjective 
mind,  it  will  be  seen  that  no  limits  can  at  present  be 
assigned  to  the  potentialities  of  telepathy.  Its  limita¬ 
tions,  however,  are  more  clearly  defined  and  understood. 
Hence  it  is  that  one  who  is  acquainted  with  those  limi¬ 
tations  and  their  proximate  causes  is  better  qualified 
to  account  for  the  failures  of  telepathy  than  any  one 
can  be  to  assign  limits  to  its  potentialities.  But  it  so 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


159 


happens  that  even  a  knowledge  of  the  causes  of  failure 
is  of  great  value  in  enabling  one  to  know  to  what  class 
a  particular  phenomenon  belongs. 

The  fundamental  difficulty  in  telepathic  communica¬ 
tion  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  power  is  not  adapted 
to  practical  mundane  uses.  It  seems,  in  fact,  to  be  a 
means  of  communicating  thoughts  especially  adapted 
to  a  disembodied  existence;  for  it  is  _never  available 
here  except  under  abnormal  conditions.  Even  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions  the  thoughts  communi¬ 
cated  must  be  interpreted,  so  to  speak,  in  terms  of  our 
sensory  experience.  That  is  to  say,  the  percipient  must 
be  caused  to  see  something  (visions)  or  hear  something 
(clairaudTence)  that  will  enable  her  to  grasp  the  idea 
sought  to  be  communicated. 

It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  inherent  difficulties  of 
telepathic  communication  are  great,  and  in  the  convey¬ 
ance  of  abstract  ideas  they  are  practically  insuperable. 
It  is  true  that  if  a  psychic  is  clairaudient,  and  conditions 
are  perfect,  much  may  be  conveyed  in  words.  But  clair- 
audience  is  a  rare  faculty,  and  perfect  conditions  hard 
to  obtain;  and  when  obtained  they  rarely  last  long 
enough  for  purposes  of  scientific  investigation.  We 
may,  therefore,  confine  our  attention  to  the  most  com¬ 
mon  methods  of  communicating  telepathic  information, 
which  is  by  causing  the  percipient  to  see  visions  that 
convey  the  idea.  I  shall  do  this,  not  only  because  it  is 
the  most  common  method,  but  because  it  is,  all  things 
considered,  the  best  that  has  yet  been  devised ;  and  for 
further  reason  that  it  is  evidently  the  one  employed  in 
the  Piper  seances. 

It  is  obvious  that  intelligence  communicated  by  means 
of  visions  must  be  extremely  limited  in  scope  and  sub- 


l6o  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

ject  matter.  It  is,  in  fact,  just  that  kind  of  information 
that  can  be  conveyed,  in  objective  life,  by  a  series  of 
pictures ;  or,  at  best,  by  pantomime.  Anything,  there¬ 
fore,  that  can  be  told  by  a  picture,  as  for  instance,  a 
tragedy,  can  be  very  clearly  reproduced  by  a  good 
psychic,  under  good  conditions.  But  abstract  ideas  can¬ 
not  be  thus  represented.  Symbolical  visions,  it  is  true, 
may  sometimes  convey  such  intelligence  to  a  very  limited 
extent ;  but  its  limitations  are  obvious.  Again,  under 
favorable  conditions  a  vision  may  be  very  distinct;  but 
those  conditions  are  subject  to  frequent  changes,  and  for 
no  assignable  cause ;  so  that  at  one  moment  a  psychic 
may  be  very  lucid,  and  at  the  next  be  groping  in  the 
dark.  This  literally  describes  the  situation  when  condi¬ 
tions  fail ;  for  telepathic  visions,  when  the  psychic’s  eyes 
are  closed,  come  out  of  the  darkness,  with  varying  bril¬ 
liancy,  when  conditions  are  favorable ;  and  fade  into  it 
again,  with  varying  indistinctness,  when  conditions  fail. 
In  a  word,  the  lucidity  of  a  telepathist  is  proportioned  to 
the  clearness  of  her  visions ;  and  the  clearest  of  them 
are  often  evanescent,  unstable,  and  “  variable  as  the 
shade.”  Mrs.  Piper’s  soi-disant  spirits,  therefore,  de¬ 
scribed  an  actual  want,  in  literal  terms,  when  they  so 
often  complained  of  the  failure  of  “  light.”  Again,  it 
frequently  happens  that  the  fault  is  not  in  the  psychic 
so  much  as  in  the  sitter ;  for  the  clearness  of  a  telepathic 
vision  depends  largely  upon  the  power  of  visualization 
possessed  by  the  subjective  mind  of  the  agent  or  sitter. 
This  power  varies  in  intensity  in  different  individuals ; 
and  in  the  same  person  it  fluctuates  within  very  wide 
limits.  The  reasons  for  this  are  not  yet  clearly  under¬ 
stood ;  but  it  seems  to  depend  upon  the  passivity  of  the 
individual.  Hence  it  is  that  trained  psychics  make  the 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  i6t 

best  sitters  or  agents ;  for  they  are  habitually  passive  at 
seances,  and  their  subjective  minds  are  habitually  active, 
—  and  that  mind  is  the  source  of  all  information  in 
telepathy.  On  the  other  hand,  a  novice  often  defeats 
the  object  of  a  seance  by  his  over-anxiety,  or  want 
of  passivity,  to  say  nothing  of  his  lack  of  subliminal 
training. 

It  should  be  here  noted  that  telepathic  messages 
cognized  clairaudiently  are  subject  to  the  same  limi¬ 
tations  of  power  and  fluctuations  of  conditions.  That 
is  to  say,  a  clairaudient  psychic  does  not  always  hear 
clearly,  any  more  than  does  a  clairvoyant  psychic  always 
see  clearly.  Hence  it  happens  that  in  either  case,  when 
conditions  are  imperfect  or  fluctuating,  proper  names 
are  difficult  to  perceive.  Some  psychics,  however,  are 
both  clairaudient  and  clairvoyant,  to  a  limited  extent, 
and  thus  have  two  strings  to  their  bow.  But  even  they 
are  subject  to  the  same  uncertain  conditions  and  limi¬ 
tations,  and  hence  cannot  always  be  certain  of  proper 
names ;  or,  for  that  matter,  of  anything  else.  I  mention 
proper  names  particularly  because  the  failures  in  cog¬ 
nizing  them,  by  even  the  best  of  psychics,  are  frequent 
in  so-called  spirit  intercourse  as  well  as  in  experimental 
telepathy,  and  presumably  for  the  same  reasons. 

One  important  fact  remains  to  be  noted,  and  that  is 
that  proper  names,  and  sometimes  other  words,  and 
even  short  sentences,  are  telepathically  conveyed  to  clair¬ 
voyant  psychics  by  means  of  visions  of  printed  or 
written  words,  projected  into  the  field  of  psychic  vision. 
Obviously,  the  foregoing  remarks  relating  to  the  vary¬ 
ing  conditions  of  telepathic  lucidity,  apply  with  peculiar 
force  to  phantasmic  representations  of  words  or  phrases, 
and  especially  of  proper  names. 


1 62  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

I  have  now  stated  a  few  of  the  salient  powers  and 
limitations  of  telepathy  with  especial  reference  to  the 
difficulties  habitually  encountered  in  communicating  in¬ 
telligence  by  that  means.  They  are  among  the  pro¬ 
paedeutics  of  psychic  science,  without  an  understanding 
of  which  it  is  impossible  to  appreciate  either  the  poten¬ 
tialities  of  telepathy,  or  intelligently  to  assign  causes  for 
its  multiform  failures  and  limitations.  With  an  under¬ 
standing  of  them  we  can  at  least  judge,  with  proximate 
certainty,  in  any  correctly  reported  case,  whether  the 
difficulties  encountered  are  such  as  are  incident  to  tele¬ 
pathy.  If  we  find  that  they  are,  we  have  a  right  to 
assume  telepathy  to  be  the  true  explanation  of  the 
mysteries,  at  least  until  it  is  definitely  shown  to  be 
either  inadequate,  or  impossible,  or  both.  Professor 
Hyslop  has  essayed  the  task  of  proving  that  it  is  both 
inadequate  and  impossible ;  but  to  do  so  he  assumes  the 
existence  of  difficulties  that  do  not  exist  except  in  his 
imagination,  as  I  shall  attempt  to  show  in  its  proper 
place. 

First,  however,  I  desire  to  suggest  the  proper  method 
of  analyzing  his  report  by  citing  a  few  illustrative  ex¬ 
amples,  taken  at  random,  showing  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt  that  telepathy  affords  an  explanation  of  all  the 
phenomena  he  describes.  In  doing  so  I  shall  assume, 
provisionally,  that  all  the  supernormally  acquired  infor¬ 
mation  possessed  by  the  medium  existed,  latent,  in  the 
subjective  mind  of  the  sitter.  How  so  much  of  it  got 
there  is  a  question  second  to  none  in  importance;  but 
it  must  be  deferred  for  the  moment. 

The  first  point  to  which  I  wish  to  invite  attention 
relates  to  proper  names.  Those  who  have  read  the 
report  (S.  P.  R.  Proc.,  Part  XLI.  Vol.  XVI.)  will  re- 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  1 63 

member  the  constant  alternation  of  lucidity  and  amnesia 
on  the  part  of  somebody,  —  spirits  or  Mrs.  Piper’s 
subliminal,  —  when  the  names  of  alleged  communicators 
were  called  for.  Often  the  name  would  be  given  with 
gratifying  promptitude ;  but  at  other  times  —  when  the 
“  light  ”  failed  —  there  would  be  groping,  guess-work, 
“  fishing  ”  for  clues,  and  sometimes  total  failure,  fol¬ 
lowed  by  very  voluble  explanations  that  did  not  explain. 
Time  and  space  forbid  the  citation  of  special  examples ; 
but  they  confront  us  almost  everywhere  in  the  report. 
Professor  Hyslop  tells  us  that  it  is  all  due  to  the  limita¬ 
tions  of  spirit  power,  first,  to  remember  the  simplest 
facts  of  mundane  experience,  and,  secondly,  to  com¬ 
municate  that  knowledge  through  the  best  of  mediums. 
Of  these  limitations  we  can  know  nothing,  of  course, 
except  what  Professor  Hyslop  tells  us.  But  how  does 
he  know?  He  also  informs  us  that  the  trouble  is  not 
due  to  the  limitations  of  telepathy,  because  telepathy 
has  no  limitations.  That  is  to  say,  he  holds  that  the 
phenomena  in  question  cannot  be  due  to  telepathy  if 
telepathic  knowledge  is  not  “  infinite,”  or  “  omniscient,” 

—  which  is  a  very  easy,  if  not  a  logical,  way  of  dis¬ 
posing  of  a  difficulty.  Of  this,  later  on. 

Nevertheless,  any  one  who  knows  anything  at  all  of 
telepathy  is  aware  that  it  is  hedged  about  by  just  such 
difficulties  in  regard  to  names  as  were  encountered  in 
the  Piper-Hyslop  seances.  Moreover,  to  suppose  that 
those  difficulties  were  due  to  the  mental  status  of  the 
spirits  themselves,  involves  implications  of  degeneracy 
not  warranted  by  current  spiritistic  philosophy. 

Again,  there  are  many  other  phenomena  detailed  in 
the  report  which  point  clearly  —  almost  demonstrably 

—  to  telepathy ;  as,  for  instance,  when  the  medium  — 


164  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

or  the  soi-disant  spirit  —  undertook  to  state  the  disease 
of  which  he,  or  some  one  else,  died.  In  one  instance  it 
was  incorrectly  stated  as  typhoid  fever ;  and  in  another 
it  was  correctly  stated  as  throat  disease.  Obviously, 
typhoid  fever  could  not  well  be  represented  by  a  phan¬ 
tasm,  but  a  sore  throat  could  be  easily  represented  by  a 
vision  of  a  person  with  a  bandaged  throat. 

Much  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  fact  that  a  certain 
jack-knife,  belonging  to  Professor  Hyslop’s  father,  was 
correctly  described,  together  with  some  of  the  uses  for 
which  it  was  employed  during  its  late  owner’s  lifetime, 
such  as  paring  his  nails,  etc.  I  submit  that  it  is  not 
difficult  to  imagine  the  projection  of  a  phantasmic  jack¬ 
knife  upon  Mrs.  Piper’s  field  of  psychic  vision ;  nor 
would  it  seem  to  be  difficult  to  guess  at  some  of  its 
uses,  even  without  the  aid  of  a  phantasm. 

Again,  much  of  evidential  value  is  attached,  by  Pro¬ 
fessor  Hyslop,  to  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Piper  correctly 
described  a  skull-cap  once  worn  by  his  father;  but 
the  name  of  the  person  with  whom  it  was  left  was  diffi¬ 
cult  to  obtain.  This  very  clearly  illustrates  the  fore¬ 
going  remarks  relating  to  the  comparative  difficulty 
in  obtaining  names  by  telepathy. 

I  might  cite  many  more  examples  of  a  similar  char¬ 
acter,  —  but  time  and  space  forbid.  But  they  will  serve 
to  suggest  to  the  student  the  proper  method  of  analyzing 
the  Piper  phenomena  as  reported  by  Professor  Hyslop. 
All  that  is  necessary  is  to  bear  in  mind  the  methods  of 
telepathy  and  its  consequent  limitations.  When  this 
rule  is  intelligently  observed  there  will  be  found  no 
difficulty  in  the  telepathic  explanation  of  all  that  seems 
so  mysterious  to  Professor  Hyslop. 

As  before  remarked.  I  have  thus  far  assumed  that 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


1 65 

all  the  supernormally  acquired  knowledge  of  which 
Mrs.  Piper  was  possessed  was  not  only  obtained  tele- 
pathically,  but  that  it  was  obtained  directly  from  the 
subjective  mind  of  Professor  Hyslop.  This  the  learned 
Doctor  would  strenuously  deny,  on  the  ground  that  the 
great  bulk  of  the  information  upon  which  he  relies  to 
prove  his  case  for  spiritism,  was  never  known  to  him 
before  he  obtained  it  from  Mrs.  Piper,  —  but  was, 
however,  subsequently  verified.  And  I  freely  admit  that 
neither  Professor  Hyslop,  nor  any  other  person  present 
at  the  Piper-Hyslop  seances  was  ever  in  conscious  pos¬ 
session  of  any  of  the  facts  revealed  by  the  trance  per¬ 
sonality  of  the  medium,  prior  to  the  date  of  the  seances. 

The  question  now  arises,  —  and  this  is  the  crucial 
question  for  spiritism,  —  how  did  Mrs.  Piper  obtain 
that  wonderful  fund  of  information  which  she  so  halt- 
ingly  gave  out  at  those  famous  seances? 

Before  attempting  to  answer  this  question  from  my 
own  point  of  view  I  will  state  the  position  of  Professor 
Hyslop. 

To  do  entire  justice  to  the  intelligence  of  the  learned 
professor,  he  does  not  seriously  deny  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  telepathy  as  a  possible  factor  in  some  cases. 
Dn  the  other  hand,  however,  he  holds  that  spiritism  is  the 
preferable  hypothesis  for  the  explanation  of  the  Piper 
phenomena,  for  the  reason  that  the  telepathic  theory 
necessarily  presupposes  “  infinite  knowledge  ”  on  the 
part  of  the  psychic.  It  is,  therefore,  in  his  mind, 
“spiritism  against  omniscience”  (page  134).  No  won¬ 
der  that  he  “halts”  on  page  133,  and  becomes  “sus¬ 
picious  ”  on  page  136,  and  actually  “  gasps  ”  on  the  same 
page  “  at  the  magnitude  of  the  theories  that  are  invented 
to  sustain  the  case  against  spiritism.”  And  well  may 


1 66  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

skeptical  science  also  “  gasp,”  not  to  say,  “  throw  up 
the  sponge,”  if  it  has  at  last  come  to  pass  that  the  hy¬ 
pothesis  of  superstition  can  be  disproved  by  no  other 
argument  than  one  that  is  based  upon  the  presuppo¬ 
sition  that  Mrs.  Piper  is  ommiscient. 

To  do  Professor  Hyslop  justice  it  must  be  said  that 
he  did  not  invent  the  theory.  That  he  believes  it,  or 
thinks  he  does,  is  evinced  by  his  constant  reiteration  of 
it ;  but  he  manages  to  throw  the  blame  of  it  upon  Dr. 
Hodgson  (p.  157).  In  defence  of  Dr.  Hodgson  it 
should  be  stated  that  he  is  not  wholly  responsible;  for 
Dr.  Bovee  Dods,  in  one  of  his  lectures,  gave  utterance 
to  a  similar  extravagance  when  undertaking  to  account 
for  the  supernormally  acquired  knowledge  of  his  mes¬ 
meric  subjects.  (See  his  lectures  on  spiritism,  pp.  83-4.) 
To  his  credit  be  it  said,  however,  that  his  extravagant 
notions  did  not  extend  to  implications  of  omniscience; 
and  in  further  extenuation  it  must  be  remembered  that 
he  wrote  fifty  years  ago,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  later 
development  of  experimental  psychology.  Nevertheless, 
he  did  develop  telepathy  in  his  subjects  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  came  into  possession  of  knowledge  of 
facts  not  previously  known  to  any  one  present.  But,  how 
to  account  for  the  fact,  he  knew  neither  more  nor  less 
than  do  the  ablest  spiritists  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  spiritistic  propaganda.  He  did  know,  how¬ 
ever,  that  spirits  of  the  dead  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  question  now  is,  is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that 
Mrs.  Piper  was  possessed  of  “  infinite  knowledge  ”  in 
order  to  account  for  her  possession  of  information  not 
previously  existent  in  the  normal  consciousness  of  any 
one  present?  Is  it  necessary  to  suppose  that  she  is 
either  actually  or  potentially  in  communication  with  the 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  1 67 

“  whole  Universe  of  intelligence  ”  in  order  to  account 
for  the  facts?  Is  it  even  necessary  to  suppose  that  she 
was  in  telepathic  communication  with  any  one  on  earth, 
or  in  heaven  above,  besides  Professor  Hyslop?  I  think 
not. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  suppose 
that  Professor  Hyslop  was  en  rapport  with  the  members 
of  his  own  family,  in  order  to  account  for  his  possession, 
subliminally,  of  all  the  knowledge  that  was  in  evidence 
at  the  Piper  seances.  Certainly  there  is  nothing  in  the 
history  of  telepathic  investigation  to  negative  this  propo¬ 
sition.  Indeed,  it  may  be  confidentially  asserted  that  if 
observation  and  experience  teach  us  anything  at  all 
in  reference  to  that  mysterious  power,  it  is  that  relatives 
and  friends  are  always  cn  rapport,  and  that  they  are 
always  either  actually  or  potentially,  in  communication. 
This  is,  perhaps,  the  most  important  induction  possible 
in  the  case,  and  it  certainly  makes  for  the  telepathic 
theory ;  for  all  the  “  communicators,”  of  evidential 
^importance,  were  relatives  of  the  sitter.  As  yet  we 
know  little  of  the  power  of  telepathic  acquisition  of 
knowledge ;  but  all  that  we  do  know  goes  to  show  that 
it  is  enormous.  The  limitations  apparently  pertain 
wholly  to  the  power  of  communicating  the  acquired 
intelligence,  as  I  have  already  shown.  It  is  also  known 
that  the  great  bulk  of  subliminal  intelligence  remains 
latent  indefinitely,  and  is  never,  except  under  abnormal 
conditions,  elevated  above  the  threshold  of  normal  con¬ 
sciousness.  It  is  also  in  evidence  that  subliminal  mem¬ 
ory  is  prodigious,  —  potentially,  if  not  actually,  perfect ; 
so  that  what  once  enters  that  storehouse  of  memory  is 
always  available  under  favorable  conditions. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  inductions  of  modern  psy- 


i68 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


chological  science  pertinent  in  this  case;  and  it  cannot 
be  successfully  controverted  that  they  afford  a  full  ex¬ 
planation  of  the  fact  that  the  knowledge  which  Mrs. 
Piper  obtained  existed  in  the  subjective  mind  of  her 
sitter.  I  submit  that  it  is  a  far  call  between  “  om¬ 
niscience  ”  and  the  conclusions  derivable  from  the  fun¬ 
damental  facts  of  psychic  science. 

The  only  question  now  remaining  is  whether  the 
knowledge  which,  presumably,  was  thus  telepathically 
acquired,  was  conveyed  by  the  same  means  to  Mrs. 
Piper’s  subliminal  consciousness. 

This  is  the  issue  which  Professor  Hyslop  has  seen 
fit  to  utterly  ignore.  And  yet  it  is  really  the  only 
pertinent  issue  in  the  case.  To  reduce  it  to  its  lowest 
terms,  it  is  this : 

Can  information,  telepathically  acquired,  be  tele¬ 
pathically  transmitted  to  a  third  person? 

If  it  can,  spiritism,  considered  as  a  scientific  propo¬ 
sition,  has  not  a  leg  to  stand  upon ;  for  not  a  case  has 
yet  been  recorded  that  cannot  be  telepathically  explained 
if  that  simple  proposition  is  true.  There  may  be  cases 
where  the  chain  of  telepathic  transmission  is  difficult  to 
trace.  But  so  momentous  a  proposition  as  spiritism 
embraces  cannot  be  logically  sustained  by  an  occasional 
failure  of  positive  evidence  against  it.  There  are  no 
logical  presumptions  in  favor  of  a  supermundane  ex¬ 
planation  of  any  phenomenon  whatever.  Indeed,  the 
presumptions  are  all  against  it,  even  in  the  absence  of 
evidence  to  disprove  it;  and  when,  as  in  this  case,  the 
great  bulk  of  cognate  phenomena  are  explicable  by 
reference  to  known  mundane  causes,  all  supermundane 
hypotheses  are  summarily  ejected  from  the  court  of 
logical  inquiry. 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  1 69 

The  question,  then,  recurs,  —  “  can  telepathically  ac¬ 
quired  information  be  telepathically  transmitted  to  a 
third  person  ?  ”  My  proposition  is  this ;  A  message 
transmitted  from  A  to  B,  by  any  means  of  communicat¬ 
ing  human  intelligence,  can  be  transmitted,  conditions  ’ 
being  equal,  from  B  to  C  by  the  same  means. 

This  is  a  very  simple  proposition,  and  its  truth  is  self- 
evident.  It  is  what  Herbert  Spencer  would  denominate 
a  “  universal  postulate  ” ;  for  “  its  opposite  is  inconceiv¬ 
able.”  Besides,  it  has  been  demonstrated,  again  and 
again,  by  experimental  telepathy,  that  telepathy  by  three, 
or  as  the  French  call  it,  “  telepathie  a  trois,”  is  not  only 
a  possible,  but  a  very  common,  phenomenon. 

There  is  nothing  left,  therefore,  for  spiritism  to  do 
but  to  deny  a  self-evident  proposition,  for,  if  it  is  true,  the 
telepathic  hypothesis  covers,  not  only  every  case  cited 
by  Professor  Hyslop,  but  every  case  within  the  range  of 
human  conception. 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  leave  to  say  one  word  to  both  the 
friends  and  the  foes  of  spiritism,  in  commendation  of 
Professor  Hyslop’s  report.  The  former  will  find  it  to 
be  the  ablest  effort  yet  made  to  give  spiritism  a  scien¬ 
tific  status.  If  he  has  failed  it  is  not  for  lack  of  zeal  or 
ability.  The  latter  will  find  in  it  a  transparently  honest 
report  of  the  details  of  each  seance.  This  is  all  that 
science  can  ask  of  a  reporter  of  phenomena.  It  will  take 
care  of  its  own  conclusions.  If  the  internal  evidence  of 
the  report  overwhelmingly  defeats  the  object  of  his 
argument.  Professor  Hyslop  has  not  concealed  the  fact. 
Considered  from  any  point  of  view,  —  as  a  literary  pro¬ 
duction,  as  a  defence  of  spiritism,  as  an  honest  report  of 
facts,  or  as  an  effort  to  obscure  the  vital  issues  involved, 
it  is  the  ablest  spiritistic  document  extant. 


I/O  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

Has  spiritism  no  better  method  of  refuting  the  argu¬ 
ments  in  favor  of  the  telepathic  theory  than  to  exagger¬ 
ate,  distort,  and  misrepresent  it  in  order  to  find  an 
excuse  for  answering  it  with  a  point-blank  denial  or  a 
I  sneer?  It  seems  not. 

I  Dr.  Hodgson,  the  official  spiritistic  propagandist  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  set  the  pace  some 
years  ago,  and  the  rest  have  obediently  followed  in  his 
footsteps  ever  since.  Thus,  in  his  report  on  the  Piper 
phenomena  (see  p.  394,  Part  XXXIIL,  S.  P.  R.),  he 
tells  us  just  what  must  be  presupposed  if  we  are  to 
accept  the  telepathic  explanation  of  said  phenomena. 
To  do  the  learned  Doctor  justice,  he  begins  by  candidly 
admitting  that  “  if  the  information  given  at  the  sittings, 
both  in  matter  and  form,  was  limited  to  the  knowledge 
possessed  by  the  sitters,  we  should  have  no  hesitation 
in  supposing  that  it  was  derived  from  their  minds,  tele- 
pathically  or  otherwise.”  But,  as  some  of  the  infor¬ 
mation  given  out  was  held  not  to  be  thus  limited,  he 
proceeds  to  say : 

“  We  must  then  make  the  arbitrary  suppositions  that  Mrs. 
Piper’s  percipient  personality  gets  into  relation  with  the  minds 
of  distant  living  persons,  (i)  who  are  intimate  friends  of  the 
sitters  at  the  time  of  the  sitting,  and  (2)  who  are  scarcely  known, 
or  not  at  all  known,  to  the  sitter.  And  many  of  these  distant 
living  persons  had,  so  far  as  they  knew,  never  been  near  Mrs. 
Piper.  These  cases  then  compel  us  to  assume  a  selective  capacity 
in  Mrs.  Piper’s  percipient  personality,  and  not  only  selective  as 
to  the  occurrences  themselves,  but  discriminative  as  to  the 
1  related  persons.” 

If  all  this  were  true,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  tel¬ 
epathic  hypothesis  would  be  hedged  about  with  serious 
logical  difficulties.  Fortunately  it  is  not  true,  as  I  shall 
show  later  on.  But  this  is  nothing  compared  with  the 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  171 

logical  consequences  involved  in  the  telepathic  hypoth¬ 
esis,  which  are,  in  part,  set  forth  by  Dr.  Hodgson  in 
words  following,  to  wit : 

“  And  I  may  add  here  that  these  arbitrary  suppositions  may 
be  increased  yet  further  to  cover  other  forms  of  evidence  that 
may  be  obtained  hereafter,  such  as  the  giving  of  information 
supposed  to  be  possessed  by  the  dead  alone,  or  the  manifestation 
of  knowledge  not  yet  acquired  by  the  human  race,  so  far  as  we 
are  aware,  such  as  the  existence  of  heavenly  bodies  previously 
unknown,  or  the  customs  of  the  inhabitants  of  other  planets, 
verified,  let  us  assume,  in  future  years.” 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  learned  Doctor  has  found 
no  difficulty  in  frightening  himself  away  from  the  tel¬ 
epathic  hypothesis  by  the  simple  process  of  constructing 
a  few  “  arbitrary  suppositions.”  And  it  must  be  ad¬ 
mitted  that  the  “  supposition  ”  that  the  inhabitants  of  this 
earth  can  communicate  telepathically  with  the  inhab¬ 
itants  of  “  unknown  ”  planets,  is  well  calculated  to 
frighten  almost  anybody  who  is  not  a  spiritist,  especially 
if  he  is  told  that  he  must  believe  it  as  a  logical  penalty 
for  believing  in  the  telepathic  explication  of  Mrs.  Piper’s 
phenomena. 

But,  robust  and  strenuous  as  are  Dr.  Hodgson’s  sup¬ 
positions,  they  are  feeble  in  comparison  with  those  of 
his  pupil.  Dr.  Hyslop.  As  I  have  shown  in  my  opening 
article,  that  gentleman  holds  that  the  telepathic  expla¬ 
nation  of  the  Piper  phenomena  is  absolutely  untenable 
except  under  the  presupposition  that  that  lady  is  “  om¬ 
niscient,”  or  at  the  least  is  endowed  with  the  ability  to 
draw  at  will  upon  “  the  whole  universe  of  intelligence.” 
Thus  believing,  he  is  enabled  to  quiet  his  logical  con¬ 
science  when  he  ignores  the  real  issue  in  the  case. 

Hon.  Luther  R.  Marsh  is  another  who  finds  a  way  to 
avoid  the  necessity  for  argument  by  the  same  general 


172 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


process.  He  tells  us  that  the  telepathic  hypothesis  re¬ 
quires  the  assumption  that  the  sitter  must  be  omniscient, 
or  words  to  that  effect.  That  is  to  say,  his  mind  must 
be  filled  with  “  an  endless  arcana  of  knowledge,”  — 
“  chuck-full  ”  of  “  all  things  that  have  ever  transpired 
in  the  world,  and  in  the  spirit  sphere.” 

This  is  a  decided  modification  of  the  assumptions  of 
Doctors  Hodgson  and  Hyslop,  who  hold  that  the  tel¬ 
epathic  hypothesis  requires  us  to  assume  that  the  me¬ 
dium  is  “  omniscient.”  To  do  Mr.  Marsh  entire  justice, 
it  must  be  said  that  his  assumption  is  just  as  sensible, 
and  just  as  near  the  truth,  as  that  of  Doctors  Hodgson 
and  Hyslop.  They  are  both  designed,  apparently,  to 
exaggerate  the  claims  of  their  opponents  for  the  purpose 
of  denying  them. 

Judge  Dailey  presents  another  modification  of  the 
same  polemical  weapon.  It  is  not  so  extravagant  as 
those  we  have  named ;  but  the  design  is  identical.  I 
refer  to  what  he  says  of  my  proposition  relating  to 
telepathy  by  three.  He  quotes  the  proposition  and  then 
proceeds  to  say  that  it  means  something  that  is  obviously 
foreign  to  its  plain  import. 

And  now  comes  the  Rev.  Dr.  Savage,  with  still  an¬ 
other  modification  of  the  same  assumption,  in  which 
“  unlimited  powers  ”  and  “  universal  knowledge  ”  are 
supposed  to  be  necessary  to  enable  the  medium  to  do 
her  work  by  the  aid  of  telepathy. 

Now,  let  us  examine  this  question  in  the  light  of  what 
is  known  of  telepathic  powers,  and  see  if  these  extrava¬ 
gant  assumptions  are  really  a  necessary  part  of  the 
telepathic  theory  when  it  is  invoked  to  account  for  spir¬ 
itistic  phenomena. 

'  First,  however,  let  us  try  to  find  a  common  ground  of 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER  1 73 

agreement,  to  the  end  that  the  issue  may  be  more  clearly 
defined.  I  think  I  may  take  it  for  granted  that  all  intel¬ 
ligent  spiritists  who  know  anything  about  telepathy  will 
admit  that  when  a  medium,  acting  under  test  conditions, 
states  a  fact  that  the  sitter  already  knows,  telepathy  can¬ 
not  be  eliminated  from  the  list  of  possible  causes.  In¬ 
deed,  no  scientific  psychical  researcher  would  for  a 
moment  consider  the  possibility  of  any  other  explana¬ 
tion.  Why?  Simply  because  he  knows  telepathy  to  be 
a  vera  causa,  and  he  does  not  know  anything  about 
spirits.  At  least  he  is  not  certain  about  them  ;  and  most 
likely  he  is  an  adherent  of  the  scientific  axiom  which 
Dr.  Savage  has  given  us,  namely,  —  “  we  must  not  ex¬ 
plain  the  unknown  by  something  else  that  is  still  more 
unknown.”  I  have  quoted  Dr.  Hodgson  as  an  adher¬ 
ent  to  this  principle;  and  F.  W.  H.  Myers  in  his  Sci¬ 
ence  and  a  Future  Life  (see  p.  32),  tells  us  that, 
forgotten  or  unforgotten,  active  or  latent,  “  whatever 
has  gone  into  the  mind  may  come  out  of  the  mind.” 
We  may,  therefore,  safely  assume  that  all  are  agreed 
that  whatever  the  sitter  knows  must  be  presumed  to 
be  available  to  the  medium.  Nor  will  it  be  disputed  that 
the  sitter  may  obtain  access  to  knowledge  telepathically. 

Now,  if  the  exhaustive  investigations  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  count  for  anything  at  all,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  they  have  demonstrated  two 
things  in  regard  to  telepathy,  namely,  (i)  that  tele-  ' 
pathy  is  a  power  belonging  exclusively  to  the  subjective  ! 
mind,  or  subliminal  consciousness ;  and  that,  conse¬ 
quently,  information  may  be  received  from,  or  imparted 
to,  another  subjective  mind,  without  the  knowledge  or 
consent  of  the  objective  mind  of  either.  The  evidence 
for  this  in  the  Society’s  reports  is  overwhelming.  (2) 

It  is  also  in  evidence  that  relatives,  friends,  and  ac- 


174 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


quaintances  are  always  en  rapport,  and  that  they  are 
always  either  actually  or  potentially  in  communication. 
Of  830  cases  reported  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  only 
thirty-six  were  between  strangers.  But  that  number 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  rapport,  for  telepathic  purposes, 
is  not  exclusively  confined  to  relatives  or  intimates. 

We  have,  then,  a  basis  of  admitted  facts  and  prin¬ 
ciples  to  start  upon,  namely,  ( i )  that  telepathy  must  be 
presumed  whenever  the  sitter  has  prior  knowledge  of 
the  fact  communicated  by  the  medium;  (2)  that  sub¬ 
liminal  knowledge  may  be  acquired  telepathically,  un¬ 
consciously  to  the  percipient.  The  only  point  likely  to 
be  in  dispute,  therefore,  is  as  to  whatever  telepathically 
acquired  knowledge  can  be  conveyed  telepathically  to 
the  psychic  or  medium.  If  it  can,  we  have  an  easy  tel¬ 
epathic  solution  of  all  the  phenomena  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking. 

To  put  the  case  in  concrete  form,  so  that  my  meaning 
may  not  be  misunderstood  or  distorted,  let  us  apply  the 
principle  to  one  of  Dr.  Savage’s  test  cases,  namely,  the 
communication  supposed  to  be  from  his  deceased  son. 
All  that  is  necessary  is  to  suppose,  (i)  that  Dr.  Savage 
and  his  son  were  in  telepathic  rapport  during  the  life¬ 
time  of  the  latter;  and  that  (2)  for  some  reason  he  de¬ 
sired  to  have  his  private  papers  taken  care  of  by  his 
father,  his  best  friend,  —  his  heart-to-heart  confidant 
during  all  the  years  of  his  life.  Thus  far  no  one  will 
dispute  the  assumptions.  (3)  Next  we  must  suppose 
that  the  desire  was  conveyed  from  son  to  father  by  the 
only  means  available  at  the  time,  namely,  by  telepathy. 
No  one  who  is  conversant  with  the  work  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  can  doubt  this  for  a  moment. 
Of  the  830  cases  cited  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  a 
large  proportion  were  cases  showing  that  the  dying 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


175 


agents  were  endeavoring  to  acquaint  their  relatives  or 
friends  with  some  unsatisfied  desire,  or  at  least  with  the 
fact  that  they  were  in  extremis.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said 
that  if  the  investigations  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re¬ 
search  render  anything  approximately  certain,  it  is  that 
dying  persons  make  an  effort  to  inform  their  relatives 
and  friends  of  their  condition,  especially  if  there  is  any 
special  object  to  be  gained  by  so  doing.  If,  then,  the 
friend  or  relative  toward  whom  the  effort  is  directed 
happens  to  be  endowed  with  psychic  powers,  the  effort 
is  successful ;  and  the  information  conveyed  to  the  sub¬ 
liminal  consciousness  is  thereby  elevated  to  the  supra¬ 
liminal.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  friend  is  not  a 
psychic  the  information  remains  latent  in  the  subliminal, 
and  may  never  rise  above  the  threshold. 

But,  in  such  a  case,  if  the  person  afterwards  becomes 
subjective  from  any  cause,  there  is  likely  to  ensue  an 
uprush  of  the  contents  of  the  subliminal,  and  he  thus 
becomes  conscious  of  the  information  that  had  been 
telepathically  conveyed  to  him  originally.  This  phe¬ 
nomenon  has  been  designated  by  Myers  as  “  deferred 
percipience,”  several  instances,  some  of  them  experi¬ 
mental,  being  cited  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living.  (See 
pp.  56,  70-1,  201-2,  265,  325,  and  519.) 

These  cases  demonstrate  that  information  telepathi¬ 
cally  conveyed,  unconsciously  to  the  percipient,  reaches 
his  subliminal  consciousness  nevertheless,  and  remains 
latent  until  an  opportunity  presents  itself  for  elevating 
it  above  the  threshold  of  normal  consciousness.  This 
may  happen  spontaneously,  as  when  the  percipient  hap¬ 
pens  to  attain  the  proper  psychic  conditions ;  or  it  may 
be  brought  about  by  the  percipient  coming  in  contact 
with  a  psychic  who  is  endowed  with  telepathic  powers, 
as  in  Dr.  Savage’s  case. 


176 


THE  EVOLUTIOH  OF  THE  SOUL 


This  latter  supposition,  singularly  enough,  marks  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  Why?  I  do  not  know  why  it 
should  be  denied  that  information  telepathically  received 
from  one  party  can  be  telepathically  conveyed  to  a  third 
person,  unless  it  is  because  the  admission  of  the  truth 
of  the  proposition  would  be  equivalent  to  an  abandon¬ 
ment  of  the  spiritistic  hypothesis,  and  an  admission  of 
the  entire  validity  of  the  telepathic  explanation. 

Dr.  Savage’s  case  presents  the  issue  in  its  simplest 
form.  He  will  not  deny  that  he  was  in  telepathic  rap¬ 
port  with  his  son.  Nor  will  he  deny  that  it  was 
possible  that  the  latter  conveyed,  telepathically,  the  in¬ 
formation  relating  to  his  private  papers  to  his  father. 
But  he  will  doubtless  deny  that  it  was  possible  for  Mrs. 
Piper  to  obtain,  telepathically,  the  content  of  that  mes¬ 
sage  from  the  mind  in  which  it  was  lodged. 

That  would  be  “  telepathic  a  trois,”  or  telepathy  by 
^  three ;  and  the  average  spiritist  becomes  hysterical  when¬ 
ever  that  subject  is  broached.  Why?  Is  it  because  he  i 
sees  that,  if  it  is  once  admitted  that  information  tel-  * 
,epathically  received  can  be  telepathically  transmitted 
a  third  person,  the  claims  of  spiritism  must  be  aban- 
.  in  favor  of  the  telepathic  hypothesis  ?  I  can 

imagine  no  other  adequate  cause  for  either  the  emotional 
and  insensate  denial  of  the  proposition  or  for  the  studied 
attempt  to  ignore  it.  Much  less  can  I  see  any  other 
cause  for  the  assertion  that  the  telepathic  hypothesis 
requires  the  presupposition  of  omniscient  intelligence  on 
the  part  of  the  medium.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  fact 
remains  that,  if  telepathy  by  three  is  a  telepathic  poten¬ 
tial,  it  does  afford  a  full  and  complete  explanation  of 
every  case  yet  reported  where  the  psychic  was  shown 
to  possess  supernormally  acquired  knowledge  not  ob- 


.  IL. 


iU- 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


177 


jectively  in  the  possession  of  any  one  present.  It 
affords,  for  instance,  an  easy  explanation  of  each  of  the 
twelve  cases  reported  by  Dr.  Savage,  as  well  as  of  all 
the  cases  cited  by  Professor  Hyslop.  It  covers,  in  fact, 
every  conceivable  case  of  the  kind. 

It  becomes  important,  therefore,  to  know  whether  tel¬ 
epathy  by  three  is  a  telepathic  potential.  Fortunately 
for  our  present  purposes.  Dr.  Clark  Bell  has  quoted  Mr. 
Lang  on  that  subject,  and  he  reports  several  cases  of 
the  kind.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  very  common  phenomenon, 
although  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  it,  for  the 
reason  that  its  scientific  value  as  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  spiritism  has  not  been  fully  appreciated  by 
scientists  until  quite  recently.  In  the  cases  cited  by 
Mr.  Lang  spirits  wer^out  of  the  question,  for  nobody  ’ 
was  dead;  and  numerous  instances  might  be  cited  in 
experimental  telepathy  by  means  of  hypnotism  or  mes¬ 
merism,  where  all  concerned  were  alive  and  well. 

It  is  true  that  in  some  cases  the  source  of  the  telepathic 
message  may  be  difficult  to  trace,  as  in  the  one  reported 
by  Judge  Dailey.  But  no  particulars  possessing  the 
slightest  evidential  importance  in  his  case  have  been 
verified.  A  soi-disant  spirit  comes  to  him  and  tells  him 
that  his  name  is  John  Taylor;  that  he  was  born  in  New 
Bedford  ;  that  he  ran  away  when  a  boy  and  went  to  sea ; 
that  he  had  a  very  checkered  career,  which  he  described 
with  great  particularity;  that  everybody  that  he  ever 
knew  in  New  Bedford  was  dead;  for  he  had  not  visited 
his  native  place  for  over  sixty  years.  All  this  Judge 
Dailey  thinks  he  has  “  verified,”  “  to  a  certain  extent,” 
by  going  to  New  Bedford  and  finding  that  “  Taylor  was 
a  very  common  family  name  ”  in  that  city  (as  it  is  in 
most  other  cities)  ;  that  there  were  names  on  tomb- 


12 


178 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


stones  that  Taylor  had  mentioned;  that  there  were 
streets  there  that  he  had  named,  etc.,  etc.  But  not  one 
item  was  verified  that  tended  to  establish  the  personal 
identity  of  John  Taylor,  or  to  show  that  any  one  of  his 
numerous  stories  was  true. 

Now,  Judge  Dailey  tells  us  that  he  is  “  a  lawyer,  and 
claims  to  know  something  of  legal  principles.”  But  he 
does  not  say  that  he  is  an  expert  in  weighing  the  value 
of  evidence.  If  he  is,  what  would  he  say  of  the  weight 
of  a  witness’s  testimony  should  he  claim  to  have  wit¬ 
nessed  a  murder,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the  corpus 
delicti,  seek  to  verify  his  statement  by  showing  a  street 
in  the  city  where  the  tragedy  was  alleged  to  have  oc¬ 
curred,  and  by  naming  somebody  whose  patronymic 
could  be  found  on  a  tombstone  in  the  city  cemetery? 
I  may  appear  to  be  straining  a  point  in  Judge  Dailey’s 
favor  when  I  say  that  I  still  have  enough  confidence  in 
his  legal  ability  to  believe  that  he  would  summarily  dis¬ 
miss  the  jury  and  throw  the  case  out  of  court,  if  that 
was  the  only  evidence  in  the  case.  And  yet  it  exactly 
parallels  the  evidence  by  which  he  seeks  to  establish  the 
personal  identity  of  John  Taylor,  and  verify  the  history 
of  his  life  as  given  through  the  medium  in  the  case. 
Well  may  the  learned  Judge  ask  me  who  telepathed  the 
personal  history  of  John  Taylor  to  the  medium.  I  con- 
fess  that  I  do  not  know.  But  I  do  know  that  all  the  facts 
bearing  upon  the  case  which  the  Judge  learned  on  his 
scientific  pilgrimage  to  New  Bedford,  could  easily  have 
been  learned  from  a  local  history  of  that  city. 

As  I  remarked,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  trace  the  tel¬ 
epathic  connections  so  as  to  say  just  where  the  informa¬ 
tion  conveyed  to  the  medium  originated.  But  they  are 
generally  just  such  cases  as  that  upon  which  Judge  Dailey 
pins  his  faith ;  that  is  to  say,  cases  that  cannot  be  either 


THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  PIPER 


179 


verified  or  disproved.  I  confess  that  I  am  not  sufficiently 
well  versed  in  Judge  Dailey’s  legal  standard  of  evidential 
values  to  see  clearly  just  how  it  is  that  an  absence  of 
facts  tends  to  prove  or  to  disprove  anything  in  an  in¬ 
ductive  investigation.  Nor  can  I  quite  appreciate  the 
logic  of  that  attitude  of  mind  which  impels  a  hysterical 
shout  of  triumph  from  every  spiritistic  throat  whenever 
a  medium  tells  a  long  and  weird  tale  that  can  neither  be 
disproved  nor  verified.  To  the  mind  of  the  average 
spiritist  such  cases  are  the  most  convincing,  for  they  can 
then  triumphantly  ask,  “  How  can  telepathy  account  for 
this?”  To  which  the  obvious  answer  is  that  telepathy 
is  not  called  upon  to  account  for  unverified  statements. 

This  class  of  cases,  however,  is  not  the  one  that  pre¬ 
sents  the  real  difficulties  that  may  sometimes  occur, 
although  they  are  very  rare.  Let  us  suppose  an  extreme 
case;  Suppose  a  soi-disant  spirit  presents  himself  at  a 
seance  and  announces  himself  as  a  stranger  to  all  pres¬ 
ent  ;  and  then  proceeds  to  relate  facts  entirely  unknown 
to  those  present.  Then  suppose  that  those  facts  should 
be  afterwards  fully  verified.  Obviously,  in  such  a  case, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  trace  the  telepathic  connection. 
But  would  anybody  but  a  spiritist  imagine  that  the  tel¬ 
epathic  hypothesis  had  been  disproved  by  an  occasional 
failure  to  find  the  facts  in  such  a  case?  I  think  not. 
And  yet  these  are  the  cases  upon  which  spiritists  rely 
to  establish  their  own  theories  and  to  “  disprove  ”  the 
telepathic  hypothesis.  In  other  words,  it  is  the  essence 
of  the  logic  of  spiritism  to  rely  chiefly  upon  the  absence 
of  facts  when  conducting  an  inductive  investigation.  Is 
Judge  Dailey’s  legal  education  responsible  for  this  prin¬ 
ciple  of  his  logic?  If  so,  he  would  hang  a  man  for 
murder  simply  for  the  want  of  evidence  to  establish 
either  his  guilt  or  his  innocence. 


l80  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

Logically,  the  case  stands  thus:  (i)  There  are  spo-^ 
radic  cases  where  it  is  difficult  to  determine  from  what 
source  a  telepathic  communication  originated. 

)  (2)  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  innumerable  cases 

j  where  the  telepathic  connection  is  obvious,  as  in  all 
Professor  Hyslop’s  cases,  in  all  Dr.  Savage’s  cases,  and 
in  most  of  those  cited  by  Judge  Dailey. 

(3)  In  all  cases  where  the  facts  are  known,  “  telepathy 
by  three  ”  affords  a  complete  telepathic  explanation. 

I  submit  that  those  few  cases  in  which  the  facts  are  not 
known  should  not  be  allowed  to  weigh  one  hair  against 
the  great  mass  of  cases  where  the  telepathic  connection 
is  obvious ;  especially  since  the  latter  can  all  be  explained 
on  the  telepathic  hypothesis,  —  assuming,  of  course, 
that  “  telepathy  by  three  ”  is  a  telepathic  potential. 

I  re-submit  my  original  proposition:  If  A  can,  by 
any  known  means  of  communication,  convey  a  message 
to  B,  B  can  convey  the  same  message  by  the  same  means 
to  C,  other  things,  of  course,  being  equal. 

If  not,  why  not? 

I  have  repeatedly  submitted  this  proposition  to  spir¬ 
itists,  and  as  repeatedly  asked  the  same  question.  If 
it  is  not  true  there  must  be  a  valid  answer  to  the  prop¬ 
osition  ;  but  that  answer  has  never  been  attempted  other¬ 
wise  than  by  the  bare  assertion,  without  argument,  that 
“  it  is  carrying  telepathy  too  far.”  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  proposition  is  true,  spiritism,  considered  as  a  scien¬ 
tific  proposition,  is  disposed  of.  Nor  can  this  question 
be  successfully  evaded  by  an  attempt  to  ignore  it,  nor  by 
substituting  for  argument  such  assertions  as  that  the 
telepathic  theory  requires  the  presupposition  of  om¬ 
niscience  on  the  part  of  the  psychic. 


VI 


HOW  I  BECAME  CONVINCED  OF  THE  EX¬ 
ISTENCE  OF  THE  FACULTY  OF  TELE¬ 
PATHY 


I  HAVE  been  asked  to  tell  how  I  became  convinced 
that  man  possesses  the  power  to  communicate 
thoughts  to  his  fellow-man  otherwise  than  through 
the  recognized  channels  of  the  senses.  I  could  answer 
that  question  very  easily  and  truthfully  by  saying  that 
I  am  credulous  enough  to  accept  and  believe  human 
testimony.  When  thousands  of  reputable  men  and  i 
women  declare  that  they  have  experienced  the  phenome-  j 
non  and  witnessed  it  in  others ;  and  when  hundreds  of  j 
men,  whose  reputation  for  probity  and  scientific  attain-  j 
ments  is  international,  aver  that  they  have  experimen-  | 
tally  reproduced  the  phenomena  of  telepathy,  I  confess  j 
that  I  am  very  much  inclined  to  believe  what  they  say.  I 
When  a  great  society,  the  London  Society  for  Psychical  | 
Research,  is  organized  for  the  sole  purpose  of  invest!-  1 
gating  such  phenomena,  and  I  find  that  its  active  1 
workers  comprise  some  of  the  ablest  scientists  and  most  1 
careful  and  conscientious  investigators  in  the  civilized  j 
world,  and  when  that  society  publishes  two  large  vol¬ 
umes,  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  containing  more  than  i 
thirteen  hundred  pages  of  testimony  to  the  fact  that  , 
telepathy  exists  as  a  power  of  the  human  mind,  I  admit 
that  I  am  prone  to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  tel- 


i82 


THE  EVOLUTIOX  OF  THE  SOUL 


epathy.  I  know  that  it  is  unscientific,  very,  to  be  so 
credulous;  for  I  have  been  so  informed  by  some  very 
able  scientists.  I  know  that  it  is  considered  to  be  scien¬ 
tific  heresy  to  believe  human  testimony  on  such  subjects; 
and  I  have  been  informed  by  members  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  that  I  have  been  guilty  of  such 
heresy  in  that  I  have  believed  the  testimony  of  that 
society,  and  have  generalized  from  its  published  facts, 
instead  of  spending  a  lifetime  in  finding  out  whether  they 
told  the  truth,  or  were  engaged  in  a  gigantic  conspiracy 
to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  mankind. 

I  do  not  mention  this  in  any  spirit  of  complaint  or 
fault-finding,  for  I  cannot  but  realize  that  in  times  past 
it  was  unsafe  for  any  investigator  of  psychic  phenomena 
to  accept  the  testimony  of  men  on  that  subject.  The 
tales  of  devils,  demons,  ghosts,  hobgoblins,  witches, 
visions,  dreams,  and  presentiments,  with  which  old 
women  and  nurses  were  in  the  habit  of  entertaining  the 
good  children,  and  securing  the  obedience  of  the  refrac¬ 
tory,  were  fair  samples  of  the  material  with  which,  at 
the  threshold  of  scientific  inquiry  on  the  subject,  the 
investigator  of  psychic  manifestations  had  to  deal;  and 
it  is  obvious  that,  under  those  circumstances,  the  old 
rule  that  human  testimony  should  not  be  received  was 
indispensable. 

But  when  such  world-renowned  scientists  as  Pro¬ 
fessors  Crookes,  Wallace,  James,  Coues,  Gates,  Sidg- 
wick,  Myers,  Podmore,  Hodgson,  and  hosts  of  others 
;  of  equal  capacity  for  accurate  observation  —  when  such 
1  men  declare  that  they  have  experimentally  demonstrated 
the  existence  of  that  and  cognate  psychic  powers,  I  am 
’  forced  to  the  conviction  that  the  old  rule  may  now  be 
'  somewhat  relaxed.  That  is  a  question,  however,  which 


HOW  I  BECAME  CONVINCED  1 83 

each  investigator  must  determine  for  himself ;  and  I  am 
not  disposed  to  find  fault  with  any  one  who  chooses  to 
adhere  to  the  old  rule  and  to  waste  years  in  reproducing 
phenomena  which  have  been  witnessed  and  verified 
by  thousands  of  accurate  and  conscientious  observ¬ 
ers.  But  I  do  say,  nevertheless,  that  as  long  as  every 
student  of  experimental  psychology  adheres  to  the  notion 
that  in  order  to  be  considered  “  scientific  ”  he  must  per¬ 
sonally^  conduct  every  experiment  from  which  he  de¬ 
duces  a  conclusion,  there  will  be  little  progress  made  in 
psychic  science.  If  the  investigation  of  the  physical 
sciences  had  been  subject  to  that  principle,  we  should 
still  have  been  riding  in  stage-coacbes,  and  nine-tenths 
of  all  the  appliances  of  modern  civilization  would  have 
been  yet  unknown.  If  the  science  of  electricity,  for 
instance,  had  been  so  studied,  Edison  would  have 
commenced  his  studies  by  fumbling  with  lodestones, 
producing  static  electricity  by  rubbing  sticks  of  sealing- 
wax  upon  the  seat  of  his  pants,  and  possibly  by  this 
time  he  might  have  reached  the  kite-flying  experiment 
of  Franklin.  Certain  it  is  that  he  would  have  reached 
the  stage  of  senile  decrepitude  before  he  could  have 
experimentally  verified  a  one-hundredth  part  of  the 
conclusions  of  his  predecessors,  and  he  would  have 
died  of  old  age  and  disappointed  ambition  before  he 
would  have  dared  to  make  an  original  experiment  or 
generalization. 

If  substantial  progress  in  psychology  is  ever  to  be 
made,  it  must  be  by  adopting  the  same  methods  which 
prevail  in  the  development  of  the  physical  sciences. 
That  is  to  say,  some  credit  must  be  attached  to  the 
declarations  of  competent  observers.  We  must  take 
something  for  granted.  We  must  begin  where  our 


i84  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

predecessors  left  off.  We  must  take  advantage  of  their 
discoveries  and  explore  new  domains,  instead  of  per¬ 
petually  travelling  in  their  old  pathways  for  fear  that 
they  may  have  been  lying  to  us  about  the  topography 
of  the  realms  they  have  explored. 

I  must  be  understood  now  as  giving  fatherly  advice 
to  those  who  are  just  entering  the  field  of  psychic  re¬ 
search.  I  confess  that  I  did  not  dare  to  follow  the 
advice  I  am  giving,  for  the  simple  reason  that  I  began 
before  psychic  phenomena  had  been  scientifically  inves¬ 
tigated  by  competent  observers  who  were  known  to  be 
trustworthy.  I  did  not,  however,  waste  much  time  in 
repeating  experiments  after  becoming  satisfied  of  the 
verity  of  any  particular  class  of  phenomena;  for  I  in¬ 
vestigated  for  the  sole  purpose  of  satisfying  my  own 
mind,  and  not  with  a  view  of  converting  others.  I  inves¬ 
tigated  by  classes  of  phenomena,  and,  having  demon¬ 
strated  to  my  own  satisfaction  that  one  particular  class 
of  phenomena  could  be  produced  without  fraud  or  leger¬ 
demain,  I  dropped  it  and  proceeded  to  another  class, 
and  so  on,  until  the  whole  psychic  repertory  had  been 
practically  covered. 

I  may  be  pardoned  by  some  of  my  readers  for  remark¬ 
ing,  in  passing,  that  when  I  began  my  investigations 
I  had  no  theory  of  causation  or  hypothesis  to  sustain. 
I  simply  desired  to  know  the  truth  as  to  the  verity  of 
the  alleged  phenomena;  and  if  I  know  my  own  mind 
I  was  free  from  prejudice  for  or  against  any  then  exist¬ 
ing  hypothesis.  I  may  remark,  however,  that,  like  every 
other  honest  investigator,  I  was  hoping  to  be  able  to 
formulate  a  working  hypothesis  which  would  account 
for  all  the  facts ;  and  I  early  became  conscious,  in  a 
vague,  general  way,  that  the  phenomenon  of  telepathy. 


//OlV  I  BECAME  CONVINCED  185 

if  it  could  be  proven  to  exist,  must  be  a  factor  of  supreme 
importance  in  any  theory  of  causation  that  could  be 
formulated.  To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  my  sub¬ 
sequent  writings  it  is  superfluous  to  say  that  I  found  my 
conjectures  to  be  correct,  and  that  telepathy  actually 
marks  the  border  line  between  the  realms  of  science  and 
superstition. 

I  therefore  applied  myself  to  the  task  of  investigating 
that  phenomenon,  with  a  firm  determination  to  know  the 
fact  of  the  existence  of  that  power  if  it  existed.  To  my 
surprise  and  gratification  I  found  the  task  to  be  a  com¬ 
paratively  easy  one  when  I  came  to  know  something  of 
the  conditions  necessary  to  be  observed. 

I  have  not  space  to  devote  to  the  recital  of  the  many 
failures  which  I  encountered,  nor  of  the  partial  successes 
which  might  be  relegated  to  the  domain  of  coincidence, 
nor  of  the  complete  successes  where  the  element  of  hu¬ 
man  veracity  constituted  a  factor.  I  will,  therefore,  state 
briefly,  not  how  I  became  convinced,  but  how  I  came  to 
knozv  of  the  existence  of  the  faculty  of  telepathy. 

The  first  conclusive  test  obtained  was  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  lady  whose  husband  is  a  profes¬ 
sional  hypnotist,  —  Professor  Carpenter  of  Boston. 
Professor  Carpenter  is  a  careful,  conscientious  operator, 
and  had  trained  his  wife’s  psychic  powers  to  a  high  state 
of  proficiency.  I  had  frequently  seen  exhibitions  of  her 
powers  at  private  entertainments  before  I  obtained  her 
consent  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  conduct  the  exper¬ 
iments  myself  in  the  absence  of  her  friends.  I  invited 
two  eminent  scientists  of  the  ultra  skeptical  variety  to 
be  present  and  assist. 

Having  partially  hypnotized  the  lady,  I  procured  from 
a  store  near  by  a  pack  of  common  playing-cards.  One 


1 86  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

of  the  gentlemen  present  opened  the  pack,  thoroughly- 
shuffled  the  cards,  and  handed  them  to  me.  Previously 
to  this,  however,  I  had  thoroughly  blindfolded  the  lady 
by  folding  a  pair  of  kid  gloves  into  pads  of  convenient 
size,  placed  them  over  her  eyes,  and  drawn  a  folded  silk 
handkerchief  over  the  pads  and  around  her  head,  tying 
it  tightly  and  securely  in  place.  Each  of  the  gentlemen 
present  carefully  examined  the  condition  of  the  pads  and 
handkerchief,  and  each  declared  himself  perfectly  sat¬ 
isfied  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  for  her  to  see  either 
through  or  under  the  dozen  or  more  thicknesses  of  mate¬ 
rial  with  which  her  eyes  were  bound.  It  was,  in  fact, 
a  physical  impossibility  for  her  to  open  her  eyes.  En¬ 
joining  strict  silence  on  the  part  of  all  present,  I  then 
shuffled  the  cards  without  looking  at  them,  and  standing 
partly  behind  her  chair,  so  as  to  be  out  of  the  range  of 
her  vision  even  if  she  had  not  been  blindfolded,  I  drew 
a  card  from  near  the  centre  of  the  pack,  and  after  having 
exhibited  it  to  the  gentlemen  present,  placed  it  in  her 
hand.  She  immediately  pressed  it  against  her  forehead 
and  at  once  correctly  named  the  card.  I  then  handed 
her  a  dozen  others  in  rapid  succession,  and  she  made  not 
a  single  mistake.  One  of  the  others  then  took  the  pack 
and  repeated  the  test  until  he  was  satisfied  that  there 
was  no  collusion  discoverable,  at  least,  between  the  lady 
and  myself.  Half  the  pack  had  then  been  exhausted, 
and  so  was  the  lady  by  that  time,  and  the  seance  was 
closed. 

After  this  I  had  many  seances  with  her,  sometimes 
with  only  one  or  two  assistants,  and  sometimes  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  party.  But  I  do  not  remember  more 
than  one  or  two  failures,  and  these  occurred  after  she 
had  become  weary. 


HOW  1  BECAME  CONVINCED 


187 


I  should  remark,  in  this  connection,  that  when  I  first 
began  my  experiments  v/ith  her,  she  was  credited  with 
possessing  “clairvoyant”  powers.  That  is  to  say,  no 
distinction  had  then  been  clearly  drawn  between  clair- 
voyance  and  telepathy ;  and  every  phenomenon  involv¬ 
ing  the  perception  of  a  fact  not  cognizable  by  the  senses 
was  called  “  clairvoyance.”  I  soon  discovered,  how¬ 
ever,  that  there  was  a  clearly  marT^^  distinction  between 
clairvoyance,  that  is,  independent  clairvoyance,  and  tel¬ 
epathy^  In  conversation  with  Professor  Carpenter  I 
learned  that  his  wife  sometimes  made  a  mistake  in  de¬ 
scribing  the  first  card  or  picture  handed  to  her,  and  that 
upon  receiving  a  second  card  or  picture,  she  would 
accurately  describe  the  first ;  and  on  receiving  the  third, 
she  would  correctly  name  the  second,  and  so  on  through 
a  long  series.  Having  witnessed  several  such  perform¬ 
ances,  I  discovered  that  when  she  made  a  mistake  it  was 
when  no  one  had  seen  the  card  previously  to  its  having 
been  handed  to  her,.  I  also  noted  that  she  would  some¬ 
times  place  the  face  of  the  card  against  her  forehead, 
no  one  having  seen  it,  and  would  fail  to  recognize  its 
character ;  and  then  she  would  turn  the  card  over,  the 
,  back  to  her  head  and  the  face  to  the  audience,  and  imme- 
diately  name  it  with  accuracy.  I  then  made  a  series  of 
tests  with  this  lady  and  other  persons,  and  found  that 
in  no  case  could  the  card  be  correctly  designated  when 
no  one  in  the  audience  had  seen  it.  If  I  was  alone  with 
the  percipient,  and  handed  him  or  her  a  card  without 
looking  at  it.  the  experiment  always  resulted  in  failure; 
whereas  the  same  percipient  would  instantly  give  the 
correct  answer  when  she  could  read  it  in  my  mind. 

It  was  thus  that  I  learned  to  doubt  the  existence  of  the 
faculty  of  clairvoyance,  properly  so  called ;  and  after 


i88 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  lapse  of  many  years  of  patient  observation,  I  have 
still  to  witness  the  first  phenomenon  that  will  have  a  ten¬ 
dency  to  convince  me  of  the  existence  of  the  power  of 
independent  clairvoyance.  I  do  not  say  that  it  does  not 
exist.  I  do  not  know.  But  I  do  say  that  I  have  seen 
nothing  that  cannot  be  referred  to  telepathy  for  a  full 
and  complete  explanation. 

Having  concluded  the  series  of  experiments  above 
mentioned,  I  determined,  if  possible,  to  develop  the  fac¬ 
ulty  in  my  own  mind,  at  least  far  enough  to  resolve  any 
lingering  doubt  that  might  be  unconsciously  entertained. 
Accordingly,  I  caused  myself  to  be  securely  blindfolded 
in  presence  of  my  family  and  two  or  three  trustworthy 
friends,  and  instructed  them  to  draw  a  card  from  the 
pack,  place  it  upon  a  table,  face  up,  and  in  full  view  of 
all  but  myself.  I  enjoined  absolute  silence,  and  re¬ 
quested  them  to  gaze  steadily  upon  the  card  and  patiently 
await  results.  I  determined  not  to  yield  to  any  mere 
mental  impression,  but  to  watch  for  a  vision  of  the  card 
itself.  I  endeavored  to  become  as  passive  as  possible, 
and  to  shut  out  all  objective  thoughts.  In  fact,  I  tried 
to  go  to  sleep.  I  soon  found  that  the  moment  I  ap¬ 
proached  a  state  of  somnolency  I  began  to  see  visions  of 
self-illuminated  objects  floating  in  the  darkness  before 
me.  If,  however,  one  seemed  to  be  taking  definite  shape 
it  would  instantly  rouse  me,  and  the  vision  would  vanish. 
At  length  I  mastered  my  curiosity  sufficiently  to  enable 
me  to  hold  the  vision  long  enough  to  perceive  its  import. 
When  that  was  accomplished,  I  saw  —  not  a  card  with 
its  spots  clearly  defined,  but  a  number  of  objects  ar¬ 
ranged  in  rows  and  resembling  real  diamonds.  I  was 
finally  able  to  count  them,  and  finding  that  there  were 
ten,  I  ventured  to  name  the  ten  of  diamonds.  The 


//Oiy  I  BECAME  CONVINCED  189 

applause  which  followed  told  me  that  I  was  right,  and  I 
removed  the  bandage  and  found  the  ten  of  diamonds 
lying  on  the  table.  The  vision  was  symbolical,  merely, 
but  no  other  possible  symbol  could  have  conveyed  a 
clearer  idea  of  the  fact  as  it  existed. 

I  then  suffered  myself  to  be  blindfolded  again,  and  in 
a  very  few  moments  saw  a  vision  of  a  single  heart  spot 
floating  before  me.  I  named  the  ace  of  hearts,  and  was 
right.  Another  card  selected  was  the  five  of  spades, 
but  I  named  the  five  of  clubs.  The  mistake  arose  from 
my  own  obtuseness  in  not  being  able  to  interpret  the 
element  of  symbolism  in  the  vision.  I  saw  five  spots 
arranged  as  on  a  card,  but  could  see  only  the  stem  end 
of  each  spot,  the  other  end  being  thrust  into  the  dark¬ 
ness,  so  to  speak,  leaving  a  little  less  than  half  of  each 
spot  visible.  Now,  the  stem  end  of  the  club  spot  is 
precisely  the  same  as  the  corresponding  end  of  the  spade 
spot;  and  I  was  stupid  enough  not  to  be  able  to  see 
that  the  fact  that  the  point  of  each  spot  was  concealed 
was  obviously  a  symbolical  representation  of  spades 
thrust  partly  into  the  earth.  This  was  the  only  mistake 
that  I  made  out  of  five  cards  selected  for  my  individual 
benefit.  Others  of  the  company  tried  the  same  experi¬ 
ment  in  the  same  way,  and  each  one  scored  a  sufficient 
number  of  successes  to  demonstrate  the  fact  of  telepathy. 

Since  that  time  I  have  seen  hundreds  of  experiments 
tried,  neither  more  nor  less  wonderful  and  conclusive 
than  those  I  have  mentioned.  I  will  relate  one  more, 
merely  because  it  is  a  little  outside  of  the  beaten  track 
of  experimental  telepathy,  although  the  principle  in¬ 
volved  is  exemplified  in  thousands  of  instances  where  it 
is  not  generally  recognized.  Those  of  my  readers  who 
are  familiar  with  my  published  works  will  understand 


190  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

the  full  significance  of  the  remark  when  I  say  that  I 
have  held,  and  still  hold,  that  telepathy  between  relatives 
and  friends  is  constant ;  and  that  a  telepathic  message 
can  be  conveyed  from  one  to  another  through  an  in¬ 
definite  number  of  persons,  just  as  an  oral  communica¬ 
tion  can  be  transmitted  from  mouth  to  mouth,  until  the 
origin  of  the  message  is  lost  sight  of.  Telepathy,  be  it 
remembered,  is  the  means  of  communication  between 
subjective  minds,  and  hence  the  content  of  a  telepathic 
message  is  rarely  elevated  above  the  threshold  of  normal 
consciousness.  That  happens  only  when  the  percipient 
is  a  psychic,  or  is  temporarily  in  a  partially  subjective 
state  or  condition.  Hence  it  is  that  a  telepathic  message 
may  be  conveyed  from  the  subjective  mind  of  A  to  the 
subjective  mind  of  B,  and  from  B  to  C,  and  so  on,  un¬ 
consciously  to  all  concerned,  until  some  one  of  the  num¬ 
ber  comes  in  contact  with  a  psychic  —  a  mind  reader  — ■ 
when  the  message  will  for  the  first  time  rise  above  the 
threshold  of  the  normal  consciousness  of  the  latter,  and 
thus  become  known  to  all  concerned.  In  other  words, 
to  reduce  the  proposition  to  its  lowest  terms :  If  A  can 
communicate  a  telepathic  message  to  B,  it  follows  that 
B  can  communicate  the  same  message  telepathically  to 
C,  and  by  the  same  means  C  can  communicate  it  to  D, 
and  so  on  indefinitely.  It  was  to  confirm  this  proposition 
that  I  made  the  experiment  which  I  am  about  to  relate, 
although  its  truth  is  all  but  self-evident. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  a  travelling  telepathist  visited 
Washington,  and  gave  a  series  of  public  exhibitions  of 
her  powers.  I  did  not  attend  the  performances  until 
after  the  experiment,  and  I  had  never  seen  or  heard  of 
the  company  before  their  visit  to  Washington.  A  friend 
of  mine,  a  leading  lawyer  in  the  city,  attended  the  first 


HOW  I  BECAME  CONVINCED  191 

performance,  and  came  to  me  the  next  morning  full  of 
wonder  and  astonishment,  and  requested  me  to  go  with 
him  the  next  night.  I  refused,  but  proposed  a  test  which 
would  eliminate  all  possibility  of  trickery,  legerdemain, 
or  collusion.  I  learned  from  him  that  the  husband  of  the 
telepathist  hypnotized  and  blindfolded  her,  placed  her 
upon  the  stage,  and  then  distributed  tablets  among  the 
audience,  requesting  them  to  write  questions  and  sign 
their  names,  and  then  fold  the  slips  of  paper,  place  them 
in  their  pockets,  and  await  results.  This  having  been 
done,  the  lady  called  the  name  of  each  one  in  turn,  stated 
the  question  asked,  and  answered  it.  The  husband  then 
asked  for  the  slip  containing  the  question  and  read  it  to 
the  audience ;  and  in  each  case  the  telepathist  was  found 
to  be  right  as  to  the  name  and  the  contents  of  the  mes¬ 
sage.  Of  course,  all  this  might  be  accounted  for  on 
the  supposition  that  the  lady  was  in  collusion  with  the 
writers  of  the  messages,  or  that  the  tablets  bore  the 
impression  of  the  writing  and  a  confederate  had  some 
means  of  conveying  the  information  to  her.  To  remove 
all  such  possibilities,  I  requested  my  friend  to  attend  the 
next  performance  and  write,  on  a  leaf  of  his  own  note¬ 
book,  the  following: 

“  A  friend  of  mine  has  given  me  the  name  of  a  playing-card. 
Please  tell  me  what  it  is.”  (Signed.) 

I  then  said  to  him :  “  I  am  now  going  to  give  you  the 
name  of  the  card  by  means  of  telepathy  only.  I  will 
not  state  its  name  to  you  or  to  any  one  else,  by  any  ob¬ 
jective  means  whatever,  until  you  obtain  the  lady’s 
answer.” 

My  instructions  were  followed  to  the  letter,  with  this 
result:  The  telepathist  called  the  name  of  my  friend 


192  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

and  stated  the  question  correctly,  and  then  said :  “  I 
cannot  see  the  card  clearly,  but  it  is  red.  I  feel  sure  that 
it  is  a  diamond,”  or  words  to  that  etfect.  She  tried  faith¬ 
fully  to  ascertain  the  exact  denomination,  and  finally 
her  husband  explained  that  she  was  very  tired  and  in 
that  state  could  not  see  clearly.  He  then  promised  to 
hypnotize  her  again  when  she  was  rested,  and  to  send 
the  answer  by  mail.  He  kept  his  promise  and  stated  in 
his  letter  that  his  wife  still  had  some  difficulty  in  seeing 
the  card  clearly,  but  was  under  the  impression  that  it 
was  the  nine  of  diamonds. 

When  the  letter  was  received  and  before  it  was 
opened,  I  divulged  to  my  friend  the  name  of  the  card 
of  which  I  had  thought.  It  was  the  ten  of  diamonds. 

I  have  little  to  add  to  the  above  recital.  It  is  obvious, 
however,  that  the  evidential  value  of  the  lady’s  answer 
is  fully  as  great  as  if  she  had  said  that  it  was  the  ten 
of  diamonds  instead  of  the  nine.  When  one  cannot  see 
a  card  quite  clearly  enough  (either  objectively  or  sub¬ 
jectively),  to  distinguish  between  the  nine  and  the  ten 
spot,  the  evidential  value  of  the  answer  is  manifestly  of 
the  highest  order  if  either  one  of  the  two  is  named. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  say  that  telepathy  is,  all 
things  considered,  the  most  important  factor  in  psychic 
science;  for  it  affords  a  full  and  complete  explanation 
of  the  great  bulk  of  all  that  is  mysterious  in  psychic 
phenomena.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  if  this  factor 
should  ever  be  eliminated  from  experimental  psychol¬ 
ogy,  the  observable  phenomena  which  have  puzzled  the 
brains  of  mankind  from  time  immemorial  will  again  be 
relegated  to  the  domain  of  doubt  and  superstition. 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM 


SINCE  the  time  when  Mesmer  first  brought  his 
discoveries  to  the  attention  of  the  scientific  world, 
the  students  of  the  phenomena  which  he  evoked 
have  been  hopelessly  at  variance  with  each  other.  That 
diverse  theories  of  causation  should  be  entertained  re¬ 
garding  phenomena  so  strange  and  full  of  mystery  is 
inevitable ;  but  it  is  rare  that  scientists  disagree  con¬ 
cerning  the  demonstrable  facts  of  a  subject  under  inves¬ 
tigation.  That  of  mesmerism,  however,  seems  to  form 
an  exception  to  the  general  rule.  After  more  than  a 
century  of  research,  the  students  of  that  subject  are  still 
divided  into  schools  which  wage  war  upon  each  other’s 
theories  and  dispute  each  other’s  facts.  The  most  care¬ 
fully  conducted  experiments  of  one  school  are  followed 
by  opposite  results  when  repeated  by  another.  Experi¬ 
ments  innumerable  have  been  made  and  recorded  with 
conscientious  care  and  scientific  accuracy  by  members 
of  all  the  schools.  Many  facts  have  thus  accumulated 
and  a  few  important  principles  have  been  discovered. 
In  this  sense  some  progress  has  been  made.  But  in  the 
larger  sense,  —  in  the  sense  of  being  able  to  appreciate 
these  facts  and  to  understand  the  significance  of  these  dis¬ 
coveries,  progress,  until  very  recent  years,  has  been  slow. 

It  is  self-evident  that  no  fact  in  nature  is  inconsistent 
with  any  other  fact.  It  follows  that  there  must  be  some 

13 


194 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


underlying  principle,  or  principles,  heretofore  over¬ 
looked,  which  will  harmonize  the  facts  of  mesmerism. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  invite  attention  to  a 
few  such  principles. 

In  doing  so  it  will  first  be  necessary  to  review  briefly 
the  salient  points  in  the  modern  history  of  the  subject, 
beginning  at  the  time  when  Mesmer  appeared  in  Paris 
and  threw  that  capital  into  a  state  of  wild  excitement 
over  the  marvellous  effects  of  his  manipulations. 

The  principal  use  to  which  Mesmer  applied  his  power 
was  that  of  curing  disease.  This,  of  course,  called  forth 
the  anathemas  of  the  medical  profession ;  but  the  people 
flocked  to  his  rooms  and  many  wonderful  cures  were 
effected.  His  methods  were  unlike  any  practised  now. 
He  surrounded  himself  with  mysticism.  He  seated  his 
patients  in  dimly  lighted  rooms  pervaded  by  sweet  odors 
and  mysterious  music.  In  the  midst  was  a  caldron  in 
which  simmered  various  chemical  ingredients.  Joined 
together  by  cords,  or  holding  each  other’s  hands,  his 
patients  sat  in  silent  expectancy.  Then  Mesmer  would 
enter,  dressed  in  the  garb  of  a  magician,  and  glide  softly 
among  the  throng,  touching  one,  making  passes  over 
another,  and  bestowing  a  look  upon  a  third.  The  effects 
were  as  violent  as  his  methods  were  mysterious.  Ladies 
would  faint  or  go  into  hysterics,  and  strong  men  would 
be  seized  by  convulsions.  All  such  symptoms  were  con¬ 
sidered  salutary,  however,  and  they  were  frequently 
followed  by  wonderful  cures. 

His  theory  was  that  a  certain  magnetic  fluid  pervaded 
the  universe,  but  was  most  active  and  potent  in  the 
human  nervous  organization,  and  enabled  one  person, 
charged  with  the  fluid,  to  exert  a  powerful  influence 
over  another.  This  he  termed  animal  magnetism.  The 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM  195 

scientists  of  the  day  attacked  the  theory  and  ignored  the 
importance  of  the  phenomena.  The  Academy  of  Sciences 
investigated  the  subject  through  a  commission.  The 
report  of  the  commission  admitted  the  leading  facts 
claimed  by  Mesmer,  but  held  that  his  theory  was  unten¬ 
able.  They  admitted  the  existence  of  a  force  capable  of 
controlling  man’s  physical  organization  ;  that  this  force  is 
amenable  to  control,  and  that  this  control  can  be  reduced 
to  an  art.  The  name  they  gave  to  the  force  was  “  Imagin¬ 
ation”;  and  the  conclusion  they  arrived  at  was  that  the 
subject  was  not  worthy  of  further  scientific  investigation. 

It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  conceive  the  process  of 
reasoning  by  which  that  learned  body  could  have  ar¬ 
rived  at  such  a  conclusion.  They  had  in  reality  made  a 
very  important  discovery,  —  the  most  important  which 
science  has  contributed  toward  a  solution  of  the  great 
problem.  They  were  the  first  to  discover  that  the  phe¬ 
nomena  of  mesmerism  are  purely  subjective.  That  they 
should  content  themselves  with  the  glory  of  having 
disproved  Mesmer’s  theory  of  causation,  and  after  hav¬ 
ing  themselves  made  the  discovery  of  the  true  theory, 
should  announce  that  their  own  discovery  was  not  worth 
the  trouble  of  scientific  investigation,  is  inexplicable.  It 
seems  probable  that  they  were  deceived  by  their  own 
loose  nomenclature.  That  word  “  imagination  ”  is  still 
used  by  the  average  physician  to  cast  discredit  upon  the 
so-called  mind-cure  and  all  cognate  phenomena.  He 
demonstrates  the  fact  that,  by  exciting  the  imagination 
of  a  patient,  bread  pills  will  cause  purging,  and  colored 
water  will  have  the  effect  of  an  emetic ;  but  he  ignores 
or  derides  the  inference  from  his  own  demonstration, 
that  this  same  “  imagination  ”  is  capable  of  exercising  a 
curative  effect  upon  the  body. 


196 


THE  EVOLUTIOH  OF  THE  SOUL 


Soon  after  the  promulgation  of  the  learned  report  of 
the  Academy,  Mesmer  was  driven  into  exile,  followed  by 
the  execrations  of  a  majority  of  the  medical  profession. 
He  left  many  disciples,  however,  among  whom  were 
a  few  able  scientists,  such  as  the  Marquis  de  Puysegur, 
Deleuze,  and  others,  who  pursued  the  investigation. 
These  gentlemen  revolutionized  the  art  of  inducing  the 
mesmeric  state  and  made  many  valuable  and  startling 
discoveries.  Instead  of  the  mysticism  and  violent 
methods  which  Mesmer  employed,  they  would  gaze  into 
the  patient’s  eyes,  make  gentle  passes  over  his  head,  face, 
and  body,  and  thus  induce  a  profound  sleep.  In  this 
state  the  patients  were  oftentimes  cured  of  disease,  an¬ 
aesthesia  was  produced,  and  surgical  operations  were 
performed  without  pain.  The  therapeutic  value  of  the 
power  was  thus  fairly  established.  They  also  discovered 
that  their  patients  could  be  made  apparently  to  see  with¬ 
out  the  use  of  the  natural  organs  of  vision.  They  could 
be  made  to  read  when  perfectly  blindfolded,  and  they 
;  could  be  caused  to  obey  mental  orders.  These  facts  were 
;  attested  by  so  many  men  of  learning  and  probity  that  the 
!  French  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  felt  compelled  to 
I  order  a  new  investigation.  A  committee  was  appointed, 
composed  of  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  cautious  scien¬ 
tists  in  that  institution.  For  nearly  six  years  that  com¬ 
mittee  pursued  its  investigation  with  the  utmost  care 
and  circumspection.  Its  report  admitted  the  therapeutic 
j  value  of  the  process  and  declared  that  the  power  of 
1  thought-transference  and  clairvoyance  had  been  demon- 
\  strat'ed  by  indubitable  tests.  The  advocates  of  mes¬ 
merism  had  scored  a  triumph.  Its  opponents  were 
simply  exasperated.  The  Academy  refused  to  print  the 
report  and  ordered  a  new  investigation.  Another  com- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM 


197 


mittee  was  appointed,  headed  by  one  who  had  openly 
'sworn  eternaThostility  to  the  doctrine.  The  result  was 
Thevitable.  "After  the  examinatToii  of  two  subjects,  they 
'made  their  report.  It  embraced  two  points  equally  con- 
cTusTve."  One  announced  their  failure  to  witness  the  oc¬ 
cult  phenomena,  and  the  other  impugned  the  intelligence 
of  the  forrner  committee.  It  is,  perhaps,  unnecessary  to 
say  that  this  report  was  accepted  by  the  average  scientist 
of  the  day  as  embracing  the  whole  gospel  of  mesmerism. 

For  some  years  subsequent  to  this,  the  investigation 
of  the  subject  was  confined  to  its  psychological  and 
therapeutic  features;  but  every  scientist  who  dabbled 
in  it  was  tabooed  by  the  majority  of  his  associates. 
Many  able  works  were  written  on  the  subject,  but  none 
of  them  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Academicians  until 
Dr.  Braid,  of  Manchester,  undertook  to  demonstrate  the  | 
theory  that  the  hypothetical  magnetic  fluid  had  nothing  | 
to  do  with  the  production  of  the  phenomena. 

Braid  made  two  important  discoveries.  The  first  was 
that  by  placing  a  bright  object  before  the  eyes  of  the 
subject,  and  causing  him  to  gaze  upon  it  with  persistent 
attention,  he  could  be  thrown  into  the  mesmeric  sleep, 
during  which  many  of  the  well-known  phenomena  as¬ 
cribed  to  magnetism  could  be  produced.  The  fact  that 
this  could  be  done  independently  of  personal  contact  with 
another,  or  of  his  personal  Influence,  seemed  to  disprove 
the  magnetic  theory  and  to  indicate  that  the  subject 
matter  was  susceptible  of  a  physiological  explanation. 

His  second  discovery  was  that  the  sleep  could  be  in¬ 
duced  by  his  method  independently  of  suggestion.  The 
significance  of  this  discovery  has  never  been  appreciated 
by  any  of  the  schools.  Indeed,  Braid  himself  seems  to 
have  attached  to  it  no  special  importance.  It  is,  how- 


198  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

ever,  of  transcendent  interest,  as  I  shall  attempt  to  show 
hereinafter. 

To  the  first  of  these  discoveries  more  than  its  due 
share  of  importance  was  given ;  but  it  opened  the  door 
for  the  admission  of  mesmerism  v/ithin  the  domain  of 
inductive  science.  It  mollified  the  Academicians,  for  it 
seemed  to  disprove  the  magnetic  theory,  and  it  prom¬ 
ised  a  physiological  explanation.  The  method  was 
simple  and  easily  applied.  Better  still,  no  one  claimed 
to  be  able  to  produce  the  phenomena  of  thought-trans¬ 
ference  or  clairvoyance  by  tlrat  method.  Best  of  all,  it 
had  been  given  a  new  name. 

Many  new  names  had  been  bestowed  upon  it  by  dif¬ 
ferent  writers,  but  with  the  exception  of  “  mesmerism,” 
each  implied  a  theory  of  causation.  “  Mesmerism  ”  was 
obviously  improper  because  Mesmer  was  neither  the  dis¬ 
coverer  of  the  force  nor  the  inventor  of  the  practical 
method  of  evoking  it.  Besides,  his  name  was  a  stench 
in  the  nostrils  of  the  medical  profession  for  the  reason 
that  he  had  threatened  them  with  a  universal  remedy 
for  disease.  So  when  Braid  denominated  it  “  Hypno- 
tism,”  from  the  Greek  word  signifying  sleep,  it  was 
hailed  as  a  compromise  sufficiently  non-committal  to 
entitle  it  to  recognition. 

Braid  is  entitled  to  great  credit  for  his  original  re¬ 
searches  and  discoveries ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  he 
has  been  the  indirect  means  of  retarding  true  progress 
in  psychology.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  since  his 
method  of  hypnotizing  has  been  generally  adopted,  the 
higher  phenomena, — thought-transference  and  so-called 
clairvoyance,  —  have  fallen  into  disrepute.  Indeed,  the 
production  of  such  phenomena  has  been,  until  recent 
years,  practically  a  lost  art.  The  cause  of  this  will  re- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM 


199 


ceive  attention  in  the  proper  place.  Beyond  the  two 
discoveries  above  noted,  his  work  is  practically  valueless 
for  the  reason  that  he  never  understood  the  subtle  role 
which  suggestion  plays  in  all  hypnotic  phenomena. 

For  some  years  after  the  appearance  of  Braid’s  work  | 
there  was  but  little  progress  made  in  the  study  of  hyp-  j 
notism.  His  methods  were,  however,  generally  adopted,  j 
The  value  of  his  discoveries  was  not  appreciated  by  his  j 
own  countrymen,  and  it  was  not  until  the  Continental  ‘ 
scientists  extended  his  researches  that  he  obtained  rec¬ 
ognition.  Liebault  was  the  first  to  confirm  his  theories, 
and  he  became  the  founder  of  what  is  known  as  the 
Nancy  school  of  hypnotism.  ‘ 

The  theory  of  that  school  is  that  the  different  physical 
conditions  characterizing  the  hypnotic  state  are  deter¬ 
mined  by  mental  action  alone;  that  this  mental  action 
and  the  consequent  physical  and  psychological  phenom¬ 
ena  are  the  result,  in  all  cases,  of  suggestion  in  some 
form ;  that  the  phenomena  can  be  produced  in  healthy 
as  ^11  as  in  diseased  organisms,  and  that  the  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  phenomena  must  be  found  by  a  study  of  their 
psychological  features. 

The  Paris  school,  or  school  of  the  Salpetriere,  on  the 
other  hand,  holds  that  hypnotism  is  the  result  of  a  dis¬ 
eased  condition  of  the  nerves,  —  a  neurosis ;  that  sug¬ 
gestion  plays  but  a  secondary  role  in  the  production  of 
the  phenomena,  a  great  proportion  of  which  can  be 
produced  without  any  form  of  suggestion ;  that  the  true 
hypnotic  condition  is  only  found  in  persons  whose  nerves 
are  diseased,  and  that  the  whole  problem  is  explainable 
on  the  basis  of  cerebral  anatomy  or  physiology. 

I  have  now  briefly  noted  a  few  of  the  salient  features 
of  the  history  of  hypnotism  and  the  theories  of  its  lead- 


200 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


ing  schools  since  the  time  of  Mesmer,  purposely  leaving 
out  that  large  class  of  amiable  people  who  believe  that 
the  hypnotic  subject  treads  the  border  land  between  this 
world  and  the  next.  It  now  remains  to  outline  a  few 
fundamental  principles  which,  though  lying  on  the  sur¬ 
face,  seem  to  have  been  overlooked  in  the  microscopic 
search  for  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  phenomena.  I  will 
then  attempt  to  point  out  a  few  sources  of  error  which 
beset  the  pathway  of  the  investigator  and  cause  the  facts 
of  hypnotism  to  seem  to  contradict  one  another. 

It  may  be  said,  briefly,  that  hypnotism  is  correctly 
defined  as  an  induced  quiescence  of  the  objective  facul- 
ties,  followed  by  increased  activity  of  the  subjective 
faculties.  It  is  common  for  writers  on  this  subject  to 
divide  the  hypnotic  state  into  grades.  Thus  the  Nancy 
school  gives  us  six,  and  the  Paris  school  three  grades. 
I  will  not  attempt  any  classification  of  grades,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  there  are  none  beyond  what  may  be 
embraced  in  the  terms  partial  and  complete  hypnosis. 
There  are  various  conditions,  it  is  true,  which  are  clearly 
defined :  such  as  lethargy,  catalepsy,  and  anzesthesia ; 
but  each  is  a  condition  which  may  be  induced  at  the  will 
of  the  operator,  ^  any  stage,  by  simple  suggestion.  The 
grades  of  hypnosis,  if  such  a  term  may  be  employed, 
are  innumerable  and  shade  into  each  other  by  imper¬ 
ceptible  degrees,  ranging  from  the  state  in  which  the 
objective  and  subjective  faculties  act  synchronously,  up 
to  the  condition  of  lucid  somnambulism. 

The  synchronous  action  of  the  objective  and  subjec¬ 
tive  faculties  is  the  result  of  partial  abeyance  of  the 
action  of  the  former.  It  is  a  phase  of  hypnotism  which 
has  never  received  the  slightest  attention  at  the  hands 
of  students  of  the  subject,  although  it  is  not  an  uncom- 


''HE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM 


201 


mon  phenomenon  and  is  of  immense  practical  impor¬ 
tance.  It  may  be  defined  as  a  condition  of  subjective 
mental  activity  controlled  by  auto-suggestion.  This 
state  is  generally  self-induced,  and  it  may  be  said  to  be 
the  natural  mental  condition  of  a  favored  few.  It  may, 
however,  be  induced  by  the  hypnotic  processes.  It  is 
a  condition  of  partial  hypnosis  in  either  case.  The  sub¬ 
ject  is  just  sufficiently  hyp^tized  to  rouse  the  subjec¬ 
tive  faculties  to  action  without  decreasing  the  power  and 
activity  of  the  objective  faculties.  The  two  minds  then 
operate  synchronously.  All  the  best  qualities  of  both 
are  in  a  state  of  intense  and  harmonious  activity,  the 
reasoning  powers  of  the  objective  mind  being  reinforced 
by  the  prodigious  memory  of  the  subjective  mind.  This 
phenomenon  is  occasionally  illustrated  in  so-called  trance 
speakers.  It  may  generally  be  recognized  by  the  fact 
that  in  this  condition  they  speak  with  their  eyes  open,  — 
literally  as  well  as  figuratively,  —  but  the  character  of 
their  reasoning  process  is  a  sure  criterion.  It  is  most 
strikingly  illustrated  in  men  of  genius.  It  is  the  source 
of  the  wonderful  power  over  their  fellows  possessed  by 
such  men  as  Patrick  Henry,  Clay,  Webster,  and  all  that 
class  of  men  known  as  “  magnetic  speakers.”  It  is  the 
“  inspiration  ”  of  the  great  artist,  who  paints  well  only 
when  the  “  mood  ”  seizes  him.  It  is  the  “  fine  frenzy  ” 
of  the  poet,  whose  pen  — 

“  As  imagination  bodies  forth 
The  form  of  things  unknown,  .  .  . 

Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name.” 

It  is  the  grand  secret  of  the  power  which  certain  men 
have  over  the  brute  creation.  It  is  the  partially  hypnotic 
condition  often  unconsciously  self-induced,  which  en- 


202 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


ables  men  to  enter  a  den  of  tigers,  which  gave  Rarey  his 
power  over  wild  horses,  protected  Daniel  in  the  lions’ 
den,  enables  the  adepts  of  India  to  sleep  unarmed  and 
unharmed  in  the  tiger-infested  jungles,  and  gives  the 
snake-charmer  the  power  to  control  and  render  harmless 
the  most  venomous  of  reptiles. 

Closely  allied  to  this  branch  of  the  subject  is  that  of 
auto-suggestion.  This  has  been  dimly  recognized  as  a 
possible  factor  in  hypnotism,  but  its  importance  seems 
never  to  have  been  fully  understood,  nor  has  the  doctrine 
been  formulated.  It  may  be  defined  as  the  control  which 
the  objective  mind  of  an  individual  exercises  over  his 
own  subjective  mind.  This  control  is  as  absolute  in 
certain  conditions  as  is  that  of  the  hypnotist  over  his 
subject.  Many  can  produce  local  anaesthesia  in  their 
own  persons  by  auto-suggestion  without  the  aid  of  even 
Partial  hypnosis ;  but  those  who  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  being  hypnotized  can,  by  this  means,  produce  wonder¬ 
ful  curative  effects  upon  themselves.  The  principle  runs 
through  all  hypnotic  phenomena,  and  is  at  all  times 
liable  to  affect  the  results  of  experiments  if  the  possibil¬ 
ities  of  auto-suggestion  are  not  intelligently  eliminated. 

It  now  remains  to  point  out  some  of  the  causes  which 
have  conspired  to  produce  conflicting  results  in  various 
lines  of  experiment.  The  question  will  first  be  consid¬ 
ered  why  it  is  that  hypnotists  of  the  present  day  rarely 
produce  the  phenomenon  of  thought-transference. 

The  first  proposition  to  which  attention  is  invited  is 
that  when  two  or  more  persons  are  in  the  hypnotic  state, 
and  are  en  rapport  with  each  other,  there  is  an  inter¬ 
communion  of  thought  independent  of  objective  means 
of  communication.  Owing  to  the  nature  of  ordinary 
experiments  and  the  methods  now  employed,  it  is  com¬ 
paratively  seldom  that  this  is  demonstrated.  I  have, 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM  203 

however,  observed  it  with  sufibcient  frequency  to  be  as¬ 
sured  of  the  fact ;  and  Professor  Carpenter,  of  Boston, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  careful  and  successful  hypnotists 
of  this  country,  tells  me  that  he  has  frequently  witnessed 
phenomena  which  can  be  accounted  for  on  no  other  ra¬ 
tional  hypothesis.  The  early  hypnotists  demonstrated  it 
beyond  question  in  a  thousand  different  ways.  My  limit 
of  space,  however,  permits  only  a  statement  of  the  fact. 

It  follows  from  this  proposition  that  if  the  hypnotist 
is  himself  partially  hypnotized  and  his  subject  is  com¬ 
pletely  subjective,  the  best  conditions  are  established  for 
enabling  the  one  to  control  the  other  by  silent  volition. 
I  undertake  to  say  that  this  condition  necessarily  resulted 
from  the  early  methods  of  producing  hypnosis. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Braid  demonstrated  two 
propositions:  i.  That  hypnosis  could  be  induced  by 
causing  the  subject  to  gaze  intently  upon  an  object. 
2.  That  suggestion  was  not  essential  to  the  production 
of  this  result.  It  will  be  further  remembered  that  the 
old  method  of  hypnotizing  was  by  steady  and  persistent 
gazing  into  the  eyes  of  the  subject,  accompanied  by 
gentle  passes  and  intense  concentration  of  mind.  The 
inference  is  irresistible  that  by  this  gazing  into  the  eyes 
of  the  subject  the  operator  partially  hypnotized  himself 
at  the  same  time  that  he  was  hypnotizing  his  subject. 
If  Braid’s  experiments  prove  anything  they  demonstrate 
the  correctness  of  this  conclusion. 

How  this  power  was  lost  is  obvious.  The  moment 
Braid  proved  that  a  subject  could  be  hypnotized  by  the 
easy,  simple,  and  sure  process  of  causing  him  to  gaze 
upon  an  inanimate  object,  every  one  discarded  the  old 
process  as  a  relic  of  the  past,  too  cumbersome  and  la¬ 
borious  to  be  of  further  use.  It  was  much  easier  to  let 
the  subject  do  all  the  gazing,  and  no  one  had  the  slightest 


204  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

idea  of  the  effect  which  the  old  method  produced  upon 
the  operator. 

Curiously  enough,  the  very  next  important  discovery 
conspired  with  the  other  to  produce  the  same  result. 
It  was  soon  after  Braid’s  time  that  the  potency  of  sug¬ 
gestion  as  a  factor  in  hypnotism  began  to  be  realized. 
It  was  discovered  that  sensitive  subjects  could  be  hyp¬ 
notized  by  suggestion  alone,  independently  of  either  the 
theoretical  magnetism  or  Braid’s  ^shining  object.  This 
was  even  easier  than  Braid’s  method.  It  required  no 
gazing  by  either  party.  All  that  was  required  was  the 
confidence  of  the  subject,  and  this  could  be  acquired  by 
any  mysterious  manipulation  that  would  appeal  to  his 
imagination.  It  was  inevitable  that  this  method  would 
be  as  barren  of  results  as  the  other  in  the  production  of 
the  higher  phenomena. 

Thus  it  happened  that  the  two  great  modern  discov¬ 
eries,  each  of  the  most  transcendent  importance,  con¬ 
spired  to  retard  the  progress  of  the  research  in  its  higher 
branches,  and  caused  a  retrograde  movement  which  has 
now  lasted  half  a  century. 

Contemporaneously  with  the  height  of  the  excitement 
on  the  subject  of  hypnotism,  the  phenomena  of  spiritism 
arrested  public  attention.  It  found  the  country  well  sup¬ 
plied  with  material  for  “  mediums.”  Every  hamlet  had 
been  visited  by  lecturers  on  hypnotism,  and  every  hyp¬ 
notic  subject  was  a  ready-made  medium.  The  fact  was 
readily  recognized  that  there  was  something  in  common 
between  the  two  classes  of  phenomena ;  and  the  skeptics 
of  the  day  sought  to  explain  the  wonderful  character  of 
the  “  communications  ”  by  referring  them  to  clairvoy¬ 
ance.  But  spiritists  seized  upon  clairvoyance,  made  it 
their  own,  and  proceeded  to  explore  the  domain  of 
Heaven.  The  result  was  that  the  skeptic  retired  in  dis- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM 


205 


gust  and  has  ever  since  refused  to  believe  in  clairvoy¬ 
ance.  Thus  prejudice  conspired  with  the  other  causes 
named  to  retard  the  progress  of  the  study  of  hypnotism. 

In  the  meantime  the  follov/ers  of  Braid  on  the  one 
hand,  and  advocates  of  the  theory  of  suggestion  on  the 
other,  still  persist  in  misunderstanding  the  facts  which 
separate  them  into  hostile  schools.  The  former  hold  that 
because  the  sleep  can  be  induced  without  the  aid  of  sug¬ 
gestion,  it  follows  that  suggestion  is  not  a  necessary 
factor  in  the  production  of  the  subsequent  phenomena. 
The  latter  hold  that  suggestion  is  a  necessary  factor  in 
the  production  of  all  phenomena  subsequent  to  sleep, 
and  it  follows  that  suggestion  is  a  necessary  factor  in 
the  production  of  the  sleep.  The  truth  will  be  found 
as  usual,  on  the  median  line.  The  sleep  can  be  induced 
by  Braid’s  method  either  with  or  without  the  aid  of 
suggestion,  and  by  suggestion  either  with  or  without 
Braid’s  method ;  but  suggestion  is  a  necessary  factor  in 
the  production  of  all  subsequent  phenomena.  When  the 
sleep  is  induced  by  suggestion  alone  its  cause  is  a  mental 
Impression.  When  it  is  induced  by  Braid’s  method 
without  suggestion,  it  is  caused  by  “  exhausting  the  ner¬ 
vous  centres  in  the  eyes  and  their  appendages,”  —  in 
short,  by  physical  weariness.  Both  will  be  recognized 
as  potent  factors  in  the  production  of  ordinary  sleep. 

The  physiological  explanation  of  Braid’s  method  of 
inducing  hypnosis  was  regarded  by  many  as  an  evidence 
that  all  the  phenomena  were  susceptible  of  explanation 
on  the  basis  of  physiology.  The  Paris  school,  of  which 
Professor  Charcot  is  the  acknowledged  leader,  hold  this 
theory.  I  will  attempt  to  point  out  a  few  of  the  sources 
of  error  which  render  the  experiments  of  that  school  of 
doubtful  value. 

The  first  and  most  prominent  of  these  consists  in  the 


2o6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


assumption  that  hypnotism  is  a  nervous  disease,  and  that 
it  is  found  in  its  most  pronounced  form  in  hysterical 
women.  Hence,  their  experiments  are  confined  to  that 
class  of  subjects.  The  absurdity  of  this  assumption  will 
be  apparent  when  it  is  known  that  the  best  subjects  are 
perfectly  healthy  persons.  At  least  that  is  the  testimony 
of  every  experimenter  outside  of  the  Salpetriere. 

Another  source  of  error  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  ig¬ 
nore  suggestion  as  a  necessary  factor  in  hypnotism,  and 
hold  that  many  of  the  phenomena  can  be  produced  with¬ 
out  its  aid.  The  effects  which  they  produce  in  this  way 
are  purely  physical,  such  as  causing  any  muscle  of  the 
body  to  contract  by  pressing  upon  the  corresponding 
nerve,  and  releasing  the  tension  by  exciting  the  an¬ 
tagonistic  muscle.  The  condition  necessary  for  the 
production  of  this  phenomenon  is  called  by  Charcot 
“  neuro-muscular  hyperexcitability.”  In  a  recent  work 
by  MM.  Binet  and  Fere,  pupils  of  Charcot,  a  chapter  is 
devoted  to  this  subject.  They  detail  with  scientific 
exactitude  many  curious  results  of  their  experiments  in 
this  line;  and  then  add,  with  charming  ingenuousness, 
that  precisely  the  same  effects  can  be  produced  in  many 
hysterical  patients  in  their  waking  state. 

After  such  an  admission  it  seems  superfluous  to  re¬ 
mark  that  this  class  of  experiments  proves  nothing 
which  can  be  said  to  be  characteristic  of  hypnotism ;  and 
the  Nancy  school  wastes  its  time  in  taking  the  trouble 
to  demonstrate  that  the'  symptoms  cannot  be  reproduced 
in  healthy  persons  without  the  aid  of  suggestion. 

Another  serious  error  into  which  the  Charcot  school 
has  fallen  consists  in  the  assumption  that  subjects  in  the 
lethargic  state  know  nothing  of  what  is  happening 
around  them.  No  greater  mistake  is  possible.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  subjective  unconsciousness.  The  ob- 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM  20 J 

jective  mind  sleeps,  —  the  subjective,  never.  No  matter 
Tiow”  profound  the  lethargy  which  locks  the  objective 
senses,  the  subjective  faculties  are  ever  alert,  and  com¬ 
prehend,  with  preternatural  acuteness,  every  word  ut¬ 
tered.  This  is  a  primary  fact  in  hypnotism,  ignorance 
of  which  has  caused  a  deal  of  trouble  and  needless 
alarm  to  many  an  experimenter.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
nine-tenths  of  all  the  difficulty  experienced  in  managing 
hypnotic  subjects,  especially  in  awakening  them  from 
profound  lethargy,  arises  from  ignorance  of  this  law. 
It  is  obvious  that  experiments  made  without  a  knowl¬ 
edge  of  it  are  valueless  when  made  with  the  view  of 
eliminating  suggestion  as  a  factor  in  hypnotism. 

Another  source  of  error  consists  in  the  fact  that  they 
disregard  the  possibility  that  their  subjects  may  read 
the  thoughts  of  those  cn  rapport  with  them.  But,  leav¬ 
ing  this  out  of  consideration,  it  goes  without  saying  that 
little  credit  can  be  accorded  to  a  series  of  experiments 
conducted  in  disregard  of  any  one  of  the  primary  prin¬ 
ciples  governing  the  subject  matter. 

Again,  MM.  Binet  and  Fere  imagine  that  they  have  de¬ 
monstrated  the  peripheral  character  of  the  phenomena  by 
various  experiments  pertaining  to  visual  hallucinations. 
For  instance,  they  observe  that  if  a  subject  is  caused  to 
see  an  imaginary  object  through  a  prism,  the  image  will 
be  doubled  precisely  as  if  the  object  were  real.  The 
Nancy  school  undertakes  to  disparage  the  verity  of  this 
experiment  by  showing  that  the  result  will  not  follow 
if  it  is  tried  in  a  dimly  lighted  room.  This  answer  at 
best  seems  very  inconclusive.  I  am  inclined  to  accord 
full  credit  to  the  experiment  for  the  reason  that  it  seems 
but  an  additional  evidence  of  the  power  which  the  mind 
exerts  over  the  functions  and  sensations  of  the  body. 

A  word  concerning  so-called  tests  of  mind-reading 


2o8 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


and  kindred  phenomena.  It  is  proverbial  that  tests  of 
such  phenomena,  made  at  the  instance  of  a  pronounced 
1  skeptic,  generally  fail.  A  striking  instance  was  that  of 
a  noted  mind-reader  in  London,  a  few  years  ago.  He 
I  was  giving,  in  public  and  in  private,  indubitable  evi- 
;  dence  of  his  power  to  read  writing  or  print  in  a  sealed 
'  envelope.  In  the  height  of  a  successful  career  he  was 
I  confronted  by  a  prominent  British  statesman  who  placed 
■  a  bank  note  for  a  large  sum  in  an  envelope,  and  offered 
;  it  to  the  mind-reader  if  he  would  read  the  number 
:  correctly.  Repeated  trials  resulted  in  dismal  failure. 

;  A  similar  offer  was  made  through  a  skeptical  com¬ 
mittee  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Medicine  many  years 
ago,  and  the  failure  was  complete.  The  literature  of 
i  skepticism  is  full  of  such  instances  of  failure  by  subjects 
who  had  often  performed  the  same  feats  in  presence  of 
persons  of  undoubted  probity  and  intelligence.  These 
facts  have  given  rise  to  the  opinion  which  prevails  very 
generally  among  scientists,  that  those  who  have  wit¬ 
nessed  successful  experiments  of  this  kind  are  deficient 
in  intelligence  or  integrity,  and  that  these  attributes  of 
mind  and  qualities  of  character  are  confined  to  those 
who  have  not  witnessed  them. 

The  explanation  of  these  failures  will  be  obvious  to 
any  one  who  will  stop  to  consider  the  power  of  sug¬ 
gestion  over  the  subjective  mind.  The  presence  of  an 
avowed  skeptic  who  aggressively  declares  his  disbelief 
operates  as  an  all-powerful  suggestion  that  the  experi¬ 
ment  is  destined  to  fail.  Every  dollar  staked  adds 
emphasis  and  potency  to  the  suggestion.  Failure  under 
such  circumstances  is  a  necessary  consequence,  and  could 
only  be  avoided  by  a  suspension  of  the  first  law  of  sub¬ 
jective  mental  action.  Hence,  the  '‘harmonious  con¬ 
ditions  ”  so  constantly  insisted  upon  by  spiritists  as  a 


THE  RATIONALE  OF  HYPNOTISM  209 

necessary  prerequisite  to  the  successful  production  of 
their  peculiar  phenomena,  will  be  seen  to  possess  a 
scientific  value  and  importance. 

Tlie  therapeutic  value  of  hypnotism  has  long  been 
known  and  acknowledged,  especially  in  the  cure  of 
nervous  and  functional  diseases,  the  morphine  habit, 
chronic  alcoholism,  etc.  Its  reputation  has  suffered 
much  at  the  hands  of  ignorant  enthusiasts,  who  believe 
it  to  be  a  universal  cure-all,  and  of  the  superstitious, 
who  imagine  that  it  can  be  successfully  employed  in  the 
invocation  of  spiritual  aid  in  the  cure  of  disease.  Like 
every  other  remedy,  it  can  only  be  successfully  employed 
by  those  who  understand  alike  its  powers  and  its  limi¬ 
tations.  The  fact  that  the  faith  and  confidence  of  the 
patient  are  required  has  led  many  to  imagine  that  the 
benefits  of  mental  therapeutics  are  limited  to  the  ignorant 
and  credulous.  The  intelligent  student  will  see  in  the  law 
of  auto-suggestion  another  evidence  that  nature’s  laws 
are  universal  in  their  application ;  and  that  the  benefits 
arising  from  their  operation  are  never  lost  bv  acquiring 
a  knowledge  of  them. 

A  word  regarding  the  mooted  question  whether  a 
subject  can  be  caused,  by  means  of  suggestion,  to  com¬ 
mit  crime.  The  danger  from  this  source  has  been 
greatly  exaggerated.  It  is  true  that  many  experimental 
murders  and  imaginary  robberies  have  been  committed ; 
but  real  crime  is  a  very  remote  possibility.  Experiments 
made  with  a  view  of  testing  the  question  prove  nothing, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  they  are  experiments.  The 
subject  yields  himself  to  control  knowing  that  no  real 
h^m  can  befall  him.  Under  such  circumstances  he  will 
be  very  likely  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  operator.  He 
would  plunge  an  imaginary  dagger  into  a  hypothetical 

14 


210 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


enemy,  and  he  might  plunge  a  real  dagger  into  a  man; 
but,  as  experiments  are  not  likely  to  be  carried  to  an 
extent  so  eminently  practical,  it  is  impossible  to  say  what 
would  be  the  result.  To  provide  for  the  commission  of 
real  crime  we  must  presuppose  ( i )  a  hypnotist  of  crimi¬ 
nal  character;  (2)  an  unsophisticated  subject,  alone  with 
the  hypnotist;  and  (3)  a  criminal  tendency  in  the  subject 
himself.  Every  practical  hypnotist  knows  that  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult,  if  not  impossible,  to  cause  a  subject  to  transgress 
his  own  code  of  morals.  It  is  here  that  auto-suggestion 
erects  an  insuperable  barrier  for  the  protection  of  inno¬ 
cence  and  virtue  against  criminal  suggestion.  Con¬ 
science,  or  a  resolution  formed  previously  to  entering 
the  hypnotic  state,  operates  as  an  auto-suggestion  which 
cannot  be  overcome  by  the  hypnotist.  Persistence  in 
criminal  suggestion  in  such  a  case  would  be  sure  to 
restore  the  subject  to  his  normal  condition.  It  is  evident 
that  these  remarks  apply  with  equal  force  to  sexual 
crimes.  I  am,  of  course,  not  prepared  to  say  that  there 
may  not  be  exceptions  to  the  rule  here  laid  down,  but 
the  possibility  must  be  very  remote. 

I  would  say  in  conclusion  that  the  importance  of  hyp¬ 
notism  and  hypnotic  suggestion  as  a  remedial  agent  in 
nervous,  mental,  and  moral  derangements  can  hardly 
be  overestimated.  Its  value  for  the  correction  of  aber¬ 
rations  due  to  neurasthenic  and  neurotic  conditions  has 
long  been  recognized  by  European  alienists  and  neuro¬ 
pathologists,  as  well  as  its  efficacy  for  the  reformation 
of  childish  and  youthful  offenders.  Some  of  the  dangers 
connected  with  its  practice  have  been  exaggerated  in  the 
popular  mind,  and  all  those  dangers  may  be  avoided 
when  the  law  of  suggestion  is  fully  understood. 


VIII 


HYPNOTISM  IN  ITS  RELATIONS  TO 
CRIMINAL  JURISPRUDENCE 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  pass  a  scientific  opinion  on 
the  question  whether  hypnotism  can  be  success¬ 
fully  employed  to  induce  the  commission  of  crime, 
and  a  legal  opinion  concerning  the  status  of  hypnotism 
in  criminal  jurisprudence.  There  are  perhaps  no  two 
questions  of  more  vital  interest  or  intrinsic  importance 
than  these.  When  a  confessed  murderer  is  acquitted 
on  the  plea  that  he  was  hypnotized  and  compelled  to 
commit  the  crime,  a  question  is  presented  which  is  in 
some  respects  cognate  to  the  old  problem  of  emotional 
insanity.  It  is,  however,  of  infinitely  greater  importance 
than  the  latter,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  emotional 
insanity  could  be  made  available  as  a  defence  only  when 
it  could  be  clearh'  shown  that  the  victim  had  so  grossly 
invaded  the  private  rights  of  the  accused  as  to  deserve 
his  punishment ;  whereas  the  defence  which  consists 
wholly  of  the  allegation  that  some  third  person  com¬ 
pelled  the  commission  of  the  crime  by  means  of  hyp¬ 
notism  is  equally  open  to  the  avenger  of  a  grievous 
wrong  and  to  the  coldest-blooded  murderer  that  ever 
scuttled  a  ship  or  cut  a  throat.  It  is  evident  that  if  such 
a  defence  is  once  admitted  as  an  element  of  criminal 
jurisprudence,  a  very  wide  and  hitherto  unexplored 


212 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


avenue  of  escape  is  opened  to  the  criminal  classes. 
Nevertheless,  Avlien  a  criminal  is  acquitted  on  such 
grounds  it  may  be  said  in  extenuation  that  the  jury 
entertained  a  “  reasonable  doubt,”  or  invoked  the  old 
common  law  maxim  that  “  it  were  better  that  ninety- 
nine  guilty  men  should  escape  than  that  one  innocent 
man  should  be  put  to  death.”  But  when  a  confessed 
murderer  is  not  only  acquitted  of  the  crime,  but  the 
alleged  hypnotist  is  convicted  of  murder  in  the  first 
degree  on  the  testimony  alone  of  said  murderer,  the 
question  assumes  a  far  more  serious  aspect.  If  such 
a  thing  can  happen,  no  man  is  safe  who  incurs  the  en¬ 
mity  of  the  criminal  class.  As  the  books  say  of  the 
charge  of  rape,  “  it  is  an  accusation  easy  to  make,  but 
difficult  to  disprove.”  In  the  present  state  of  popular 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  hypnotism  it  is  a  charge 
impossible  of  refutation.  The  popular  belief  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  may  be  summed  up  in  two  sentences: 

1.  It  is  believed  that  a  person  may  be  hypnotized  at 
a  distance  and  against  his  will. 

2.  It  is  also  believed  that  in  the  hypnotic  state  a  per¬ 
son  is  under  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  will  of  the 
hypnotist,  and  can  be  compelled  to  perform  any  act, 
however  repugnant  to  his  feelings  or  his  conscience. 

Obviously,  if  these  two  propositions  are  true,  hypno¬ 
tism  has  a  legitimate  place  in  criminal  jurisprudence. 
The  scientists,  however,  who  hold  that  hypnotism  can 
be  employed  for  criminal  purposes  do  not  all  agree  as 
to  the  truth  of  the  first  proposition,  but  they  sustain  the 
second  with  practical  unanimity.  It  is  to  this  second 
proposition,  therefore,  that  we  must  first  direct  our 
attention ;  for  if  that  is  found  to  be  untrue  it  is  unim¬ 
portant  whether  the  first  is  true  or  false. 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE  213 

It  must  be  premised  that  the  study  of  hypnotism  is 
yet  in  its  infancy.  No  man  can  safely  predict  its  future, 
as  to  either  its  uses  or  its  abuses.  That  it  is  useful 
when  legitimately  employed,  no  one  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  facts  will  deny.  That  it  may  be  employed  to 
the  detriment  of  its  votaries,  is  a  proposition  equally  true 
of  everything  that  is  a  power  for  good.  That  when  its 
laws  are  understood  they  will  be  found  to  be  promotive 
of  the  highest  good  of  the  human  race,  is  a  proposition 
sanctioned  by  every  discovery  yet  made  in  the  domain 
of  nature’s  laws. 

Little  as  is  known  of  the  ultimate  possibilities  of  hyp¬ 
notism,  there  are  some  things  about  it  which  have  been 
definitely  ascertained  and  are,  broadly  speaking,  as  well 
known  now  as  they  can  ever  be  known.  It  is  not  neces¬ 
sary  for  one  to  be  able  to  calculate  the  eclipses  to  enable 
him  to  know  that  the  earth  is  round  or  to  grasp  the 
fundamental  hypothesis  of  gravitation.  Nor  is  it  neces¬ 
sary  for  us  to  know  the  future  possibilities  of  hypnotism 
to  enable  us  to  grasp  its  fundamental  laws,  since  they 
have  been  definitely  formulated.  Generally  speaking, 
we  know  what  hypnotism  is,  and  we  know  at  least  one 
of  its  fundamental  laws.  The  researches  of  the  Euro¬ 
pean  scientists  have  definitely  settled  that  much,  and  for 
the  purposes  of  our  present  inquiry  it  is  sufficient. 

The  word  “  hypnotism  ”  is  derived  from  the  Greek 
uTTi'o?  (hypnos),  signifying  “sleep.”  Dr.  Braid,  who 
was  the  originator  of  the  term,  defined  it  as  “  nervous 
sleep  ”  or  induced  sleep. ^  This  implied  the  theory,  then 
prevalent,  that  a  subject  must  be  asleep  in  order  to 
exhibit  the  phenomena  of  hypnotism.  Professor  Lie- 
bault,  of  Nancy,  extended  the  researches  of  Braid,  and 


^  Neurypnology,  p.  13. 


214  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

immortalized  his  own  name  by  the  discovery  of  the  law 
of  suggestion.  Professor  Bernheim,  a  pupil  of  Liebault, 
in  conjunction  with  the  latter,  discovered  that  the  Braid- 
ian  definition  was  too  limited  in  its  scope  to  embrace  all 
the  phenomena,  inasmuch  as  it  was  found  that  many  of 
the  distinctive  results  could  be  produced  while  the  sub¬ 
ject  was  in  what  Bernheim  terms  the  “  waking  condi¬ 
tion.”  Bernheim,  therefore,  defines  hypnotism  as  “  the 
induction  of  a  peculiar  psychical  condition  which  in¬ 
creases  the  susceptibility  to  suggestion.”  ^  This  implies 
the  theory  that  persons  are  normally  susceptible  to  sug¬ 
gestion.  This  conclusion,  however,  does  not  seem  to  be 
warranted,  except  in  the  sense  that  all  are  subject  to  the 
influence  of  others.  There  must  be  some  abeyance  of 
the  objective  faculties  in  order  to  produce  the  phenomena 
of  suggestibility  in  the  hypnotic  sense  —  that  is,  in  the 
sense  that  a  suggestion  can  produce  a  hallucination. 
My  definition  of  hypnotism  would,  therefore,  substi¬ 
tute  the  word  “  induces  ”  for  “  increases  ”  in  Bernheim’s 
definition. 

As  before  remarked.  Professor  Liebault  discovered 
and  formulated  the  law  of  suggestion.  That  law  is  now 
almost  universally  recognized  by  scientists  throughout 
the  world  as  the  potent  factor  in  hypnotism.  I  say 
“  almost,”  for  there  are  still  a  few  exceptions,  consisting 
of  a  constantly  diminishing  number  of  the  followers  of 
the  late  Professor  Charcot,  who  believed  that  hypnosis 
could  be  induced  only  in  hysterical  patients.  There  is 
one  other  French  savant  who  succeeds  in  astonishing 
himself  and  amusing  the  scientific  world  by  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  phenomena  which  demonstrate  nothing  but  his 
own  ignorance  of  the  principle  of  suggestion.  Then 

1  Suggestive  Therapeutics,  p.  15. 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE  21 5 

there  is  one  English  author  who  produced  a  universal 
guffaw  among  scientific  men  by  publishing  an  expose 
of  the  Frenchman,  and  succeeded  in  astonishing  all 
Europe  and  America  by  demonstrating  the  fact  that  he 
knew  less  about  the  subject  than  the  Frenchman  himself. 
With  these  unimportant  exceptions  the  law  of  sugges¬ 
tion  is  universally  recognized  among  scientists. 

Formally  stated,  the  law  is  this : 

Persons  in  a  hypnotic  state  are  constantly  amenable 
to  control  by  suggestion. 

Broadly  speaking,  suggestion,  as  the  term  is  employed 
in  connection  with  hypnotism,  is  a  statement,  true  or 
false,  made  to  a  hypnotic  subject.  Its  potency  resides 
in  the  fact  that  the  hypnotized  subject  unhesitatingly 
accepts  the  statement  or  suggestion  as  true,  and  acts 
accordingly.  Thus,  a  hypnotic  subject  may  be  made  to 
believe  that  he  is  another  person,  or  that  he  is  an  animal, 
or  a  demon,  or  an  angel ;  and  he  will  assume  the  char¬ 
acter  and  act  the  part  to  the  life,  within  the  limits  of  his 
physical  or  mental  capacity.  He  may  be  made  to  get 
drunk  on  water  by  suggesting  to  him  that  it  is  brandy ; 
and  he  may  then  be  made  sober  by  giving  him  brandy 
accompanied  by  the  suggestion  that  it  is  an  antidote  to 
the  previous  “  stimulant.” 

These  are  the  fundamental  facts  of  hypnotism  as  they 
are  recognized  by  the  public,  and  it  is  upon  these  facts, 
thus  broadly  stated  and  superficially  understood,  that 
the  conclusion  has  been  based  that  hypnotism  can  be 
employed  as  an  agent  of  the  criminal.  It  is,  perhaps, 
a  natural  conclusion  for  one  who  has  witnessed  only  the 
common  platform  experiments.  He  sees  the  subject 
thrown  into  a  state  that  is  to  him  mysterious  and  inex¬ 
plicable.  He  sees  the  subject  in  that  condition  become 


2i6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


apparently  under  the  absolute  control  of  the  operator, 
and  dominated  by  the  most  absurd  suggestions.  His 
natural  conclusion  is  that  if  the  operator  chose  to  say 
to  the  subject  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  per¬ 
petrate  a  crime,  he  would  be  compelled  to  do  so  in 
obedience  to  the  law  of  suggestion.  This  is  the  first 
conclusion  at  which  the  European  scientists  arrived; 
but  they  were  not  content  with  mere  platform  experi¬ 
ments  and  abstract  deductions.  So  they  instituted  a 
series  of  laboratory  experiments  in  which  criminal  sug¬ 
gestions  constituted  the  salient  feature.  Subjects  were 
hypnotized  and  paper  daggers  were  placed  in  their 
hands,  and  the  suggestion  was  made  that  it  was  ex¬ 
tremely  desirable  that  some  imaginary  person,  or  real 
one  for  that  matter,  should  be  incontinently  slaughtered. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  suggestion  was  in  every 
instance  obeyed  with  the  greatest  alacrity.  It  is  almost 
superfluous  to  add  that  the  experimenters,  who  were 
mostly  medical  gentlemen,  were  practically  unanimous 
in  the  opinion  that  hypnotism  was  a  very  dangerous 
force  in  the  hands  of  anybody  but  doctors. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  this  paper  to  show  that  this  view 
of  the  case  is  to  the  last  degree  superficial,  and  evinces 
a  singular  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  real  scope  and 
significance  of  the  law  of  suggestion.  In  their  view  of 
the  question,  suggestion  would  be  confined  to  the  oral 
declaration  of  the  hypnotist  to  his  subject.  The  truth 
is  that  the  suggestions  of  the  hypnotist  are  the  least 
important  of  those  which  dominate  the  mind  of  the 
subject. 

Suggestions  are  divided  into  two  classes,  —  namely : 

1.  Suggestions  by  a  second  person,  as  by  a  hypnotist. 

2.  Auto-suggestions. 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE  2iy 

The  first  class  is  subdivided  into  two  classes,  — 
namely:  i.  Oral  suggestions.  2.  Mental  suggestions. 

With  the  latter  class  we  shall  have  nothing  to  do,  as 
it  belongs  to  a  higher  phase  of  psychic  phenomena  than 
we  are  considering. 

Auto-suggestions  are  divided  into  four  classes, 
namely:  i.  Volitional  auto-suggestions.  2.  Sugges¬ 
tions  of  moral  education  and  fixed  principles.  3.  In¬ 
stinctive  auto-suggestions.  4.  Suggestions  of  the 
environment. 

The  greater  part  of  the  above  divisions  and  subdi¬ 
visions  are  explained  by  their  terms.  The  subdivisions 
of  auto-suggestions,  however,  require  elucidation.  Be¬ 
fore  proceeding  to  do  so  I  desire  to  impress  a  very 
important  fact  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

It  sometimes  happens  in  the  course  of  experiments 
in  hypnotism  that  two  contrary  suggestions  are  made 
at  the  same  time.  The  invariable  result  is  that  great 
distress  of  mind  is  inflicted  upon  the  subject,  and  it 
often  results  in  bringing  him  out  of  the  hypnotic  state. 
When  this  effect  does  not  follow,  the  stronger  sugges¬ 
tion  necessarily  prevails.  The  importance  of  this  fact 
will  become  obvious  as  we  proceed. 

I.  A  volitional  auto-suggestion  is  one  which  the 
subject  makes  to  himself  before  being  hypnotized.  For 
instance,  if  he  anticipates  the  possibility  that  the  hyp¬ 
notist  will  place  him  in  a  ridiculous  attitude,  or  one 
repugnant  to  his  sense  of  propriety,  he  will  resolve 
beforehand  that  he  will  not  obey  the  suggestion.  If, 
then,  the  anticipated  suggestion  is  made  by  the  hyp¬ 
notist,  it  will  be  strongly  resisted,  and  the  potency  of 
the  resistance  will  be  in  exact  proportion  to  the  subject’s 
innate  sense  of  dignity  or  propriety.  If  that  is  very 


2I8 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


fetrong,  and  the  hypnotist  insist  upon  his  suggestion, 
the  subject  will  be  restored  to  his  normal  condition. 

2.  Suggestions  of  moral  education  and  fixed  prin¬ 
ciples  are  of  a  cognate  character  to  the  foregoing. 
These  reach  the  very  heart  of  the  matter  under  consider¬ 
ation.  Thus,  if  a  subject  be  told  to  do  anything  that 
is  contrary  to  the  settled  principles  of  his  life,  he  will 
resist  the  suggestion  with  all  the  force  of  his  moral  na¬ 
ture.  Consequently,  when  an  immoral  or  a  criminal  sug¬ 
gestion  is  made  by  a  hypnotist,  whether  it  will  be  obeyed 
or  not  is  purely  a  question  of  moral  character.  If  the 
subject  is  strongly  intrenched  in  moral  rectitude  he  will 
resist;  and,  if  the  hypnotist  persist,  he  will  be  restored 
to  normal  consciousness.  “  Strength  of  mind  ”  is  not  a 
factor  in  the  case.  Strength  of  “  will,”  in  the  ordinary 
acceptation  of  the  term,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
result.  “  Will,”  in  the  psychic  sense,  is  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  desire.  Consequently,  if  the  subject’s 
desire  to  obey  the  dictates  of  conscience  is  stronger 
than  his  desire  to  obey  the  suggestions  of  the  hypno¬ 
tist,  the  auto-suggestion  must  prevail.  In  other  words, 
there  is  no  such  thing  in  real  life  as  a  hypnotist  having 
absolute  control  of  a  subject  against  the  will  of  the 
latter. 

3.  Instinctive  auto-suggestions  are  those  which  arise 
from  the  natural  desire  to  protect  one’s  own  life  or  that 
of  his  wife  or  children.  They  are  by  far  the  strongest 
auto-suggestions  that  a  criminal  hypnotist  would  have 
to  encounter  in  an  effort  to  procure  the  commission  of 
a  crime  by  means  of  suggestion.  It  has  often  been  said 
that  a  criminal  hypnotist  would  have  the  power  to 
induce  a  subject  to  commit  suicide,  or  to  procure  an 
abortion,  by  means  of  suggestion.  But  such  a  use  of 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE  219 

that  power  is  obviously  out  of  the  question  when  we 
consider  the  inherent  strength  of  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  and  the  potency  of  the  subjective  clinging 
to  the  life  of  the  foetus  which  is  the  inherent  attribute 
of  every  mother.  Besides,  the  same  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  would  be  a  powerful  factor  in  case  of  an 
attempt  to  instigate  the  commission  of  a  murder.  The 
subject  would  instinctively  reason  up  to  the  conse¬ 
quences  to  himself  in  case  of  detection ;  and,  even 
though  his  moral  principles  might  not  constitute  an 
auto-suggestion  of  sufficient  strength  to  enable  him  to 
withstand  the  suggestion  of  a  criminal  hypnotist,  the 
consideration  of  his  own  safety  would  be  more  than 
likely  to  have  that  effect. 

4.  Suggestions  of  the  environment  are  those  which 
arise  spontaneously  in  the  mind  of  the  subject  from  his 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  experiments  about  to 
be  made,  of  the  character  of  the  persons  present,  the 
objects  of  the  experiments,  and  the  desires  of  the 
experimenters. 

In  the  whole  range  of  experimental  hypnotism  there 
are  no  auto-suggestions  that  are  more  apt  to  modify  re¬ 
sults  than  are  the  suggestions  of  the  environment.  And 
there  are  none  that  are  disregarded  by  a  certain  class 
of  experimenters  with  such  persistent,  aggressive  fatu¬ 
ity.  Indeed,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  at  all  times  to  elim¬ 
inate,  intelligently,  these  suggestions ;  and  in  a  certain 
class  of  experiments  it  is  practically  impossible.  The 
experiments  which  we  are  now  considering  belong  to 
that  category ;  and  it  may  be  set  down  as  an  axiom  in 
experimental  hypnotism  that  no  laboratory  experiment 
conducted  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  sug¬ 
gestion  can  be  successfully  employed  to  induce  a  hyp- 


220 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


notic  subject  to  perpetrate  a  crime  is  of  any  evidential 
value  whatever. 

When  a  subject  is  hypnotized  for  that  purpose,  he 
knows  that  he  is  among  friends.  He  knows  that  they 
are  law-abiding  citizens  who  will  take  care  that  no  harm 
shall  result  from  the  experiments  about  to  be  made.  He 
generally  knows  that  he  is  expected  to  carry  out  all 
suggestions  made  to  him.  He  is  very  probably  aware 
that  he  is  expected  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  prop¬ 
osition  that  a  criminal  hypnotist  can  compel  his  subject 
to  commit  crime.  Like  all  hypnotic  subjects,  he  is 
anxious  to  win  applause  —  to  create  astonishment.  In 
short,  he  knows  that  he  is  the  central  figure  in  a  comedy 
or  farce  which  is  about  to  be  played  in  the  interests  of 
“  science,”  and  he  feels  that  he  is  the  “  scientist.”  The 
inevitable  consequence  is  that  he  resolves  to  carry  out 
every  suggestion  of  the  hypnotist,  knowing  that  no  harm 
can  possibly  result.  A  paper  dagger  is  placed  in  his 
hands,  and  he  is  told  that  a  certain  gentleman  present 
is  an  enemy  who  “  needs  killing.”  This  he  is  ready  to 
do,  and  he  proceeds  to  thrust  his  paper  dagger  into 
the  heart  of  his  “  enemy,”  amid  the  applause  of  the 
assembled  wisdom. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  moral  character  of  the  subject 
cannot  enter  as  a  factor  in  an  experimental  case  of  this 
kind.  He  is  simply  a  player  in  a  farce  in  which  he 
assumes  the  role  of  the  heavy  villain.  Moreover,  the 
result  could  easily  be  reversed  by  merely  suggesting  to 
the  subject  that  he  was  expected  to  disobey  the  criminal 
suggestions  of  the  hypnotist.  In  short,  the  subject  in 
such  experiments  will  do  just  what  he  believes  to  be 
expected  of  him,  and  the  suggestions  of  the  environment 
will  always  afford  some  hint  as  to  that,  even  if  they 
amount  to  nothing  more  than  an  assurance  that  it  is 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE 


221 


perfectly  safe  for  him  to  obey  the  suggestions  made  by 
the  hypnotist.  It  is  plain  that  a  laboratory  experiment 
can  go  no  farther  than  the  enactment  of  a  farce.^ 

Space  forbids  the  citation  of  authorities  to  sustain  the 
foregoing  propositions,  although  they  are  numerous.^ 

It  must  be  apparent  to  the  intelligent  reader  that 
laboratory  and  platform  experiments  in  this  line  have 
no  possible  evidential  value ;  and  when  we  remember 
that  all  the  hue  and  cry  that  has  been  raised  on  the 
subject  of  “  hypnotism  and  crime  ”  is  based  upon  these 
same  laboratory  experiments,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
public  have  been  led  into  an  error  of  enormous  pro¬ 
portions  and  of  infinite  moment  in  the  administration 
of  criminal  justice.  This,  however,  only  pertains  to  the 
value  of  laboratory  experiments  as  evidence.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  while  they  do  not  prove  that  hyp¬ 
notism  can  be  employed  for  criminal  purposes,  neither 
do  they  disprove  that  proposition ;  they  simply  demon¬ 
strate  the  necessity  for  eliminating  the  results  of  experi¬ 
mental  investigation  from  consideration. 

The  question  of  fact  still  remains :  Can  hypnotism  be 
successfully  employed  for  the  perpetration  of  crime? 

1  Since  the  manuscript  of  this  paper  was  forwarded  to  the  publishers 
a  new  book  has  been  placed  in  my  hands,  entitled  Ilvpnotisni :  How  it 
is  Done ;  Its  Uses  and  Dangers,  by  Dr.  James  R.  Cocke,  of  Boston. 
This  gentleman  had  the  courage  to  make  a  practical  experiment  in  this 
line.  Standing  in  front  of  a  deeply  hypnotized  subject,  he  placed  a 
piece  of  cardboard  in  her  hands,  telling  her  that  it  was  a  dagger,  and 
commanded  her  to  stab  him.  This  command  she  immediately  obeyed 
with  alacrity.  He  then  handed  her  an  open  pocket-knife  and  again 
commanded  her  to  stab  him.  She  raised  her  hand  as  if  to  execute  the 
command,  but  hesitated,  and  immediately  had  an  hysterical  attack, 
which,  of  course,  put  an  end  to  the  experiment.  The  doctor  adds :  “  I 
have  tried  similar  experiments  upon  thirty  or  forty  people  with  similar 
results.”  He  also  states  that  he  made  a  number  of  tests  to  prove  that 
the  subject  was  deeply  hypnotized. 

^  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  subject,  and  a  collection  of  authorities, 
see  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena^  chap.  x. 


222  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL  \ 

My  remarks  relating  to  auto-suggestions  arising  from 
the  moral  education  and  the  fixed  principles  of  the  sub¬ 
ject  will  have  prepared  the  reader’s  mind  for  the  only 
rational  answer,  namely,  —  it  is  purely  a  question  of 
moral  character.  A  criminal  hypnotist  in  control  of  a 
criminal  subject  could  undoubtedly  procure  the  commis¬ 
sion  of  a  crime  under  exceptionally  favorable  circum¬ 
stances.  But  a  criminal  hypnotist  would  simply  waste 
his  energies  in  hypnotizing  a  criminal  subject;  for  a  man 
of  that  character  could,  without  doubt,  be  just  as  easily 
influenced  in  his  normal  condition.  However  that  may 
be,  when  a  man  sets  up  hypnotism  as  a  defence  in  a 
criminal  trial,  he  proclaims  himself  a  criminal  character. 

Beyond  what  has  already  been  said  of  the  worthless¬ 
ness  of  experimental  investigation,  this  is  the  only  gen¬ 
eral  proposition  that  can  be  predicated  with  certainty 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  hyp¬ 
notism.  But  it  practically  covers  the  whole  ground. 

The  first  legal  question  that  arises  is.  How  far  ought 
hypnotism  to  be  admitted  as  a  defence  when  it  is 
pleaded  ?  My  answer  is  that  it  should  never,  under  any 
circumstances,  be  admitted  as  a  defence  for  the  one  who 
is  clearly  proved  to  have  committed  the  crime.  Drunk¬ 
enness  cannot  be  urged  as  a  defence,  and  there  is  in¬ 
finitely  less  reason  for  admitting  hypnotism.  In  the  one 
case  a  good  man  may  be  so  far  crazed  by  liquor  as  to 
become,  in  fact,  utterly  irresponsible.  Yet  the  fact  is 
rejected  as  a  defence,  on  the  ground  that  he  voluntarily 
rendered  himself  irresponsible  by  getting  intoxicated. 
The  hypnotic  subject  should  be  held  to  the  same  rule 
and  for  the  same  reason ;  for  no  man  can  be  hypnotized 
against  his  will.  This  is  the  practically  universal  testi¬ 
mony  of  all  the  scientific  writers  on  the  subject.  He 
voluntarily  places  himself  in  the  power  of  a  hypnotist 


HYPNOTISM  IN  JURISPRUDENCE 


223 


whom  he  more  than  probably  knows  to  be  a  criminal 
character,  and  he  should  be  held  to  the  same  accounta¬ 
bility  for  the  results  as  if  he  had  voluntarily  “  placed 
an  enemy  in  his  mouth  to  steal  away  his  brains.”  More¬ 
over,  as  I  have  previously  shown,  the  hypnotized  subject 
will  never  commit  a  crime  in  that  state  which  he  would 
not  commit  in  his  normal  condition. 

The  next  legal  question  is  as  to  the  admissibility  of 
the  testimony  of  the  alleged  hypnotic  subject  in  a  crim-' 
inal  prosecution  of  the  alleged  hypnotist  as  an  accessory , 
before  the  fact.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  any  legal 
grounds  for  the  admission  of  his  testimony  at  all ;  for 
if  it  is  true  that  he  was  so  deeply  hypnotized  as  to  be  an 
irresponsible  agent  in  the  hands  of  the  hypnotist,  he  was 
necessarily  in  a  state  that  would  preclude  the  possibility 
of  his  having  any  definite  recollection  of  what  happened. 
Indeed,  his  whole  testimony  would  be  open  to  the  sus¬ 
picion  that  he  was  merely  reciting  the  details  of  a  sub¬ 
jective  hallucination.  In  that  case  his  testimony  would 
be  literally  “  of  such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of  ”  — 
the  “  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.”  Obviously,  it  should 
have  no  more  standing  in  a  court  of  justice  than  an 
alleged  dream.  Consequently,  if  it  is  clearly  proven  that 
he  was  hypnotized,  his  own  testimony  should  be  ex¬ 
cluded  as  against  the  other  party  concerning  what  hap¬ 
pened  during  the  period  of  his  irresponsibility. 

This  brings  up  the  question,  so  often  mooted,  of 
the  propriety  of  hypnotizing  a  person  in  court  for  the 
purpose  of  questioning  him  concerning  what  happened 
to  him  during  a  previous  hypnotization.  From  a  legal 
standpoint  this  is  a  most  intensely  absurd  proposition. 
Not  one  of  the  conditions  which  give  value  to  human 
testimony  would  be  present.  In  the  first  place,  he  could 
not  be  punished  for  perjury  if  he  swore  falsely;  and 


224  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

the  instinct  of  self-preservation  would  cause  him  to 
swear  falsely  if  the  truth  would  militate  against  him. 
Moreover,  being  in  a  hypnotic  state,  he  would  be  amen¬ 
able  to  control  by  suggestion,  and  a  cross-examination 
would  utterly  confuse  him.  A  cross-examination  by  a 
competent  lawyer  consists  largely  of  artful  suggestions 
in  the  form  of  leading  questions ;  and  a  hypnotized 
witness  would  necessarily  either  be  controlled  by  them, 
or  restored  to  normal  consciousness  by  a  conflict  of 
suggestions.  Clearly,  a  hypnotized  subject  can  have  no 
legitimate  standing  as  a  witness  in  a  court  of  justice. 

I  have  now  briefly  examined  the  salient  features  of 
the  problem  from  both  the  psychological  and  the  legal 
standpoint,  and  I  hope  that  I  have  made  it  as  clear  to 
others  as  it  is  to  me  that  its  psychological  features  are 
less  repulsive  and  dangerous  to  the  public  than  many 
interested  writers  have  pictured  them,  and  that  the  few 
legal  problems  involved  are  easy  of  solution  without 
a  resort  to  legislation.  Hypnotism  has  no  legitimate 
place  in  criminal  jurisprudence.  The  attempt  to  thrust 
it  into  that  field  is  the  result  of  a  determination  on  the 
part  of  interested  parties  to  confine  the  uses  of  hyp¬ 
notism  to  a  select  few.  This  effort  has  been  aided  by 
popular  ignorance  and  criminal  instinct,  until  our  courts 
of  justice  are  now  threatened  with  an  inundation  of 
cases  involving  questions  that  are  new  and  strange  to 
lawyers  and  judges,  and  threaten  jurors  with  paralysis. 
It  is  humiliating,  but  it  is  true,  that  in  the  last  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century  we  are  threatened  with  a  rep¬ 
etition  of  the  insanity  of  the  seventeenth.  The  ghost  of 
Cotton  Mather  stalks  abroad  at  noonday  and  gibbers 
from  the  forum. 


IX 


PSYCHOLOGICAL  PROBLEMS  RELATING  TO 
CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  INNOCENT 
PERSONS  1 


My  theme  to-night  is  hoary  with  frosts  of 
centuries,  and  the  question  that  it  presents 
is  as  mysterious  as  any  of  the  many  that 
have  presented  themselves  for  solution  by  students 
either  of  forensic  medicine  or  of  experimental  psychol-  > 
ogy.  My  only  hope  is  that  I  may  be  able  to  say  some¬ 
thing  that  is  not  as  venerable  with  antiquity  as  the  theme 
itself.  It  is  not  my  purpose,  however,  to  formulate  a 
new  scientific  dogma;  but  merely  to  suggest  a  method 
of  study  of  a  subject  that  is  as  important  as  it  is  ancient, 
and  is  as  vital  to-day  as  it  ever  has  been  in  the  history  of 
criminal  jurisprudence.  If,  therefore,  I  shall  at  any 
time  seem  to  be  dogmatic,  I  beg  pardon  in  advance. 

It  is  well  known  to  every  student  of  forensic  medicine 
that,  from  time  to  time  in  the  history  of  criminology, 
cases  have  been  reported  of  criminal  confessions  made 
by  persons  who  have  subsequently  been  proven  to  be 
entirely  innocent. 

I  will  not  weary  you  by  extensive  citations  of  partic¬ 
ular  instances;  for  every  student  of  medical  jurispru- 

1  Read  before  the  Medico-Legal  Society,  May  i6,  1900,  in  joint 
session  with  the  Psychological  Section. 

IS 


226 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


dence  is  familiar  with  the  facts  and  their  legal  aspects. 
I  have,  however,  selected  one  typical  case,  because  it 
embraces  all  the  psychological  features  which  I  shall 
undertake  to  examine.  In  the  course  of  a  learned  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  legal  phases  of  this  class  of  cases,  Mr. 
Wills,  in  his  able  treatise  on  Circumstantial  Evidence, 
epitomizes  the  case  referred  to  in  words  following: 

“  A  very  remarkable  case  of  this  nature  was  that  of  the  two 
Booms,  convicted  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Vermont  in  Septem¬ 
ber  Term,  1819,  of  the  murder  of  Russel  Colvin,  May  10,  1812. 
It  appeared  that  Colvin,  who  was  the  brother-in-law  of  the 
prisoners,  was  a  person  of  weak  and  not  perfectly  sound  mind ; 
that  he  was  considered  burdensome  to  the  family  of  the  prisoners, 
who  were  obliged  to  support  him ;  that  on  the  day  of  his  dis¬ 
appearance,  being  in  a  distant  field  where  the  prisoners  were  at 
work,  a  violent  quarrel  broke  out  between  them,  and  that  one  of 
them  struck  him  a  violent  blow  on  the  back  of  the  head  with  a 
club,  which  felled  him  to  the  ground.  Some  suspicions  arose, 
at  that  time,  that  he  was  murdered,  which  were  increased  by  the 
finding  of  his  hat  in  the  same  field,  a  few  months  afterwards. 
These  suspicions  in  process  of  time  subsided  ;  but  in  1819,  one 
of  the  neighbors  having  repeatedly  dreamed  of  the  murder,  with 
great  minuteness  of  circumstances,  both  in  regard  to  his  death 
and  the  concealment  of  his  remains,  the  prisoners  were  vehe¬ 
mently  accused,  and  generally  believed  guilty  of  the  murder. 
Upon  strict  search,  the  pocket-knife  of  Colvin,  and  a  button  of 
his  clothes,  were  found  in  an  old  open  cellar  in  the  same  field ; 
and  in  a  hollow  stump,  not  many  rods  from  it,  were  discovered 
two  nails,  and  a  number  of  bones  believed  to  be  those  of  a  man. 
Upon  this  evidence,  together  with  the  deliberate  confession  of 
murder  and  concealment  of  the  body  in  those  places,  they  were 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  die.  On  the  same  day  they  applied 
to  the  legislature  for  a  commutation  of  the  sentence  of  death  to 
that  of  perpetual  imprisonment;  which  as  to  one  only  of  them 
was  granted.  The  confession  now  being  withdrawn  and  contra¬ 
dicted,  and  a  reward  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  missing 
man,  he  was  found  in  New  Jersey,  and  returned  home  in  time  to 
prevent  the  execution.  He  had  fled  for  fear  that  they  would  kill 
him.  The  bones  were  those  of  an  animal.  The  prisoners  had 
been  advised  by  some  misjudging  friends  that,  as  they  would  cer- 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  22 J 

tainly  be  convicted,  upon  the  circumstances  proved,  their  only 
chance  for  life  was  by  a  commutation  of  punishment,  and  that 
this  depended  on  their  making  a  penitential  confession,  and 
thereupon  obtaining  a  recommendation  to  mercy.” 

It  is,  as  before  remarked,  useless  to  multiply  illustra¬ 
tions  of  this  class  of  cases,  since  every  lawyer  and  every 
physician  present,  who  is  familiar  with  the  literature 
and  history  of  criminal  jurisprudence,  will  recall  to  mind 
enough  instances  to  fill  a  volume.  Moreover,  all  will 
agree  that  a  great  majority  of  such  confessions  have 
been  simply  inexplicable.  It  is  true  that  some  cases 
have  been  recorded  where  it  has  been  found  that  the 
confession  was  made  to  shield  some  dear  friend  or  rela¬ 
tive,  who  was  really  the  guilty  party.  Other  cases  have 
been  noted  where  it  was  suspected  that  the  accused  was 
tired  of  life,  and  resorted  to  confession  of  guilt  as  the 
easiest  way  of  ridding  himself  of  a  burden  too  grievous 
to  be  borne. 

In  the  days  when  the  rack  was  the  great  instrument 
of  judicial  inquiry,  it  was,  perhaps,  natural  to  suppose 
that  some  confessions  were  made  in  order  to  obtain 
temporary  release  from  torture;  although,  as  I  shall 
presently  show,  this  should  not  be  considered  as  a  valid 
explanation  in  cases  where  the  crime  charged  was  pun¬ 
ishable  by  death.  Again,  it  is  well  known  that  con¬ 
fessions  have  often  been  made  under  promise  of  judicial 
leniency,  and  in  some  instances,  where  circumstantial 
evidence  was  strongly  presumptive  of  guilt,  it  may  be 
supposed  that  the  promise  was  the  moving  cause  of 
confession,  even  when  the  party  was  actually  innocent. 

These  and  other  cognate  causes  may  sometimes  be 
invoked  to  account  for  sporadic  cases  of  criminal  con¬ 
fessions  by  innocent  persons ;  but  when  they  are  all 


228 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


taken  into  account,  the  fact  remains  that  the  great  bulk 
of  such  confessions  are,  or  have  been  until  recently, 
utterly  inexplicable.  That  I  am  not  exaggerating  when 
I  say  that  the  great  bulk  were  shrouded  in  impenetrable 
mystery,  will  abundantly  appear,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  thousands  and  scores  of  thousands  of  the  best 
known  cases  were  those  of  persons  who  were  accused 
of  witchcraft.  All  the  other  known  cases  were,  in  point 
of  numbers  especially,  comparatively  insignificant;  al¬ 
though  many  of  them  were  apparently  well  authenti¬ 
cated.  The  witchcraft  cases,  however,  present  two 
points  of  vantage  in  this  discussion.  The  first  is  in  that 
when  a  person  confessed  herself  guilty  of  witchcraft, 
she  must  be  presumed  to  be  an  innocent  person  until  it 
is  judicially  or  scientifically  determined  that  there  is 
such  a  crime  as  witchcraft.  That,  of  course,  was  not 
difficult  in  the  good  old  days ;  but  we  may  now  safely 
assume  that  a  confession  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft  was 
a  clear  case  of  a  criminal  confession  by  an  innocent 
person.  The  second  point  of  vantage  is  that  such  cases 
point  definitely  to  the  fact  that  it  is  a  purely  psycholog¬ 
ical  question  with  which  we  have  to  deal. 

When  innocent  children  and  reputable  women  confess 
to  crimes,  the  penalty  for  which  is  the  most  horrible 
form  of  death,  we  may  know  that  they  believe  what  they 
say.  Knowing  this,  we  also  know  that  it  is  a  mental 
state  or  condition  which  we  have  to  diagnose.  In  at¬ 
tempting  this  diagnosis,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  psychological  principles  which  apply  to  one  case  are 
equally  applicable  to  all. 

I  have  said  that  the  victims  of  witchcraft  prosecutions 
evidently  believed  that  their  confessions  were  veridical. 
This  is  unquestionably  true.  We  must,  therefore,  find 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  229 

a  psychological  principle  under  which  a  perfectly  inno¬ 
cent  person  may  be  made  to  believe  that  he  is  guilty  of 
a  capital  crime;  and,  so  believing,  be  made  to  confess 
the  crime,  knowing  that  immediate  death  is  the  inevi¬ 
table  result  of  the  confession.  To  that  end  we  must 
find ;  First,  a  universal  psychological  law,  applicable  to 
all  persons  alike,  conditions  being  equal,  under  which 
an  innocent  person  can  be  compelled  to  believe  that  he 
has  committed  a  capital  crime.  Secondly,  we  must  find 
another  universal  law  under  which  a  condition  of  mind 
may  be  induced  in  which  death  loses  its  terrors. 

It  is,  perhaps,  superfluous  to  remark  that  under  the 
old  psychology  such  laws  could  never  have  been  dis¬ 
covered.  But  most  of  those  here  present  will  anticipate 
me  when  I  say  that  the  new  psychology  reveals  just 
what  we  are  looking  for;  and  that  the  law  of  sugges¬ 
tion  is  the  salient  feature  of  our  theme.^  This  law  was 
discovered  by  a  European  scientist ;  and,  as  it  was 
first  formulated,  it  was  to  the  effect  that  persons  in  a 
hypnotic  state  are  constantly  amenable  to  control  by  the 
suggestions  of  others.  Later  on,  the  law  of  duality  of 
mind  was  formulated,  and  as  a  working  hypothesis  a 
sharp  line  of  demarcation  was  drawn  between  the 
already  recognized  two  states  of  consciousness. 

I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  supreme  potency  of  sug¬ 
gestion,  for  every  student  of  psychic  phenomena  is 
aware  that  a  subject  may  be  made  to  believe  himself  to 
be  a  dog  or  a  devil,  the  spirit  of  a  deceased  person  or 
a  living  person  other  than  himself ;  and  that  he  will 
carry  every  suggestion  to  its  logical  conclusion  so  far 
as  it  is  physically  possible.  It  follows  that  he  may  be 

1  See  discussion  of  Suggestion  in  Ilypnotisvi  in  its  Relations  to 
Criminal  Jurisprudence. 


230  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

made  to  believe  that  he  is  guilty  of  crime.  All  that  is 
necessary  is  that  the  suggestion  be  made  with  strength, 
vigor,  and  persistency.  Reason  is  dethroned;  experi¬ 
ence  counts  for  nothing;  the  evidence  of  the  senses 
is  impeached ;  the  centre  of  control  over  the  dual  mental 
organism  is  displaced,  and  as  long  as  this  subjective 
state  continues,  or  as  often  as  it  is  renewed,  the  sub¬ 
ject  is  dominated  by  the  central  idea  embraced  in  the 
suggestion. 

We  have  now  found  the  law  for  which  we  were  in 
search,  namely,  the  law  under  which  an  innocent  person 
can  be  compelled  to  believe  that  he  is  guilty  of  a  capital 
crime. 

The  conditions  under  which  this  seemingly  impossible 
state  of  afifairs  can  be  brought  about  must  now  be  con¬ 
sidered.  To  those  not  fully  acquainted  with  the  various 
phases  of  subjective  states  and  conditions,  but  have 
learned  a  little  of  the  common  phenomena  of  hypnotism, 
the  solution  of  the  problem  will  seem  to  be  referable  to 
a  condition  of  profound  hypnosis.  This,  however,  will 
be  seen  to  be  totally  inadequate  when  it  is  remembered 
that  when  crimnnal  confessions  are  made  by  innocent 
persons  they  always  seem  to  be  in  full  possession  of 
their  normal  faculties. 

Neither  of  these  suppositions,  however,  is  correct. 
That  is  to  say,  it  does  not  require  a  condition  of  pro¬ 
found  hypnosis  to  render  a  subject  “  suggestible  ”  ;  nor 
is  any  subject  in  full  possession  of  his  normal  faculties 
when  he  is  suggestible ;  that  is,  suggestible  in  the  degree 
required  for  the  production  of  the  phenomenon  under 
consideration.  There  must  be  some  degree  of  abeyance 
of  the  objective  faculties;  although  it  may  be  so  slight 
as  to  render  it  impossible  to  detect  any  abnormality  in 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  23 1 

the  actions  of  the  subject.  How  slight  a  cause  is  suffi¬ 
cient  to  render  a  subject  suggestible,  many  here  present 
can  doubtless  testify  if  they  will  recall  their  experiences. 
For  instance,  it  is  well  known  that  when  any  one  visits 
a  dentist’s  office  for  the  purpose  of  having  an  aching 
tooth  extracted,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  pain  will 
cease  the  moment  he  enters  the  operating-room.  And 
I  want  to  say  to  every  surgeon  here  present  that  this 
is  a  fact  of  profound  significance  and  of  infinite  value 
to  humanity ;  for  it  points  to  a  general  law  under  which 
painless  surgery  is  possible  by  means  of  suggested 
analgesia,  and  without  profound  hypnosis.  That  law 
may  be  stated  in  a  few  words :  An  imminent  and  inevi¬ 
table  surgical  operation  invariably  throws  the  patient  into 
a  partially  subjective  state,  and  in  that  state  he  is  sug¬ 
gestible.  It  follows  that  if  the  surgeon  understands  the 
law  and  the  methods  of  suggestion,  he  can  perform  a 
painless  operation.  I  pointed  out  this  fact  in  the  New 
York  Medical  Journal  as  early  as  1894;  and  since  then 
hundreds  of  successful  experiments  have  been  made. 
The  common  experience  mentioned  in  regard  to  aching 
teeth  is  demonstrative  that  local  anaesthesia  is  produced 
by  mental  emotion;  and  the  fact  that  this  can  be  fol¬ 
lowed  up  by  a  painless  operation,  by  simply  making  a 
positive  suggestion  of  analgesia,  is  demonstrative  that 
the  patient  was  in  a  subjective  state  from  the  beginning. 

This  is  somewhat  of  a  digression ;  but  I  merely  wish 
to  show  how  slight  a  cause  is  sufficient  to  induce  the 
subjective  condition,  to  suspend  the  reasoning  faculties, 
and  to  cause  the  subjective  mind  to  dominate  the  dual 
mental  organism.  The  observation  and  experience  of 
every  physician  and  surgeon  will  at  least  bear  me  out 
in  the  assertion  that  fear  and  dread,  especially  of  im- 


232  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

minent  and  inevitable  death,  will  induce  the  subjective 
condition ;  and  that  painless  death  is,  under  this  law, 
the  rule  among  all  sentient  creatures.  Illustrations 
might  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  but  it  is  unnecessary 
in  this  presence.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  recall  the  well- 
known  fact  that  criminals,  after  all  hope  has  fled,  and 
the  death  sentence  has  been  pronounced,  invariably  lapse 
into  a  state  of  profound  indifference  and  meet  death 
with  stoical  fortitude,  —  often  with  cheerful  alacrity. 

Every  student  of  psychic  phenomena  is  aware  of  the 
extreme  facility  with  which  a  sensitive  subject  may  be 
thrown  into  the  subjective  condition.  Thus,  Abbe  Faria 
was  accustomed  to  hypnotize  his  subjects  by  gazing  upon 
them  for  a  few  moments  and  then  suddenly  shouting, 
“  Dormez  !  ”  (Sleep!)  in  authoritative  and  strident  tone 
of  voice.  Charcot  performed  the  same  feat  by  flashing 
a  Drummond  light  into  the  eyes  of  his  patients ;  and 
others  have  induced  profound  hypnosis  by  suddenly 
sounding  a  Chinese  gong.  In  short,  it  is  well  known 
to  all  hypnotists  that  sudden  fright  is  a  potent  agency 
for  the  induction  of  the  subjective  condition. 

What  is  more  to  our  present  purpose,  however,  is 
the  fact  that  a  never  failing  emotional  agency  for  the 
induction  of  the  subjective  condition  is  the  dread  or 
fear  of  imminent  and  inevitable  personal  calamity.  It 
may  be  set  down  as  axiomatic  that  Nature  is  ever  kind 
to  the  victim  of  the  inevitable.  And  this  is  true  whether 
it  is  inevitable  death  or  an  inevitable  surgical  operation. 
Where  the  two  conditions  of  imminence  and  inevitability 
are  present  the  rule  is  invariable.  It  is  Nature’s  com¬ 
pensation  for  her  prodigality  of  life  and  the  univer¬ 
sality  of  death  made  necessary  by  the  process  of  organic 
evolution.  The  apparent  cruelty  of  the  law  that  all 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  233 

must  die  is  mitigated  in  the  only  way  possible,  namely, 
by  universal  immunity  from  pain  during  the  process  of 
dissolution.  And  this  immunity  is  made  possible  by  the 
spontaneous  induction  of  the  subjective  condition  upon 
the  near  approach  of  the  king  of  terrors.  Even  the 
soldier  in  battle  experiences  this  immunity,  —  not  only 
from  pain  when  struck  by  a  bullet,  but  from  all  fear  of 
death  while  the  battle  lasts.  And,  if  mortally  wounded, 
he  treads  the  inevitable  path  without  fear  and  without 
regret.^ 

I  think  we  may  now  safely  assume  that  we  have 
found  the  second  universal  law  which  we  have  been 
seeking,  namely,  the  law  under  which  a  condition  of 
mind  may  be  induced  which  robs  death  of  its  terrors. 

It  seems  like  a  work  of  supererogation  to  point  out 
formally  the  application  of  these  laws  and  principles  to 
the  cases  under  consideration.  It  is  obvious  that  in  the 
cases  recorded  of  criminal  confessions  by  innocent  per¬ 
sons,  the  conditions  were  perfect,  first,  for  the  induction 
of  the  subjective  condition ;  and  secondly,  for  sugges¬ 
tion  to  do  its  perfect  work,  in  (0)  forcing  upon  the 
subjective  mind  of  the  victim  a  firm  belief  in  his  own 
guilt,  and  in  compelling  him  to  confess  his  guilt. 
Let  us  glance  at  these  conditions  for  one  moment. 

The  first  factors  to  be  considered  are  the  accusation, 
the  arrest,  and  the  imprisonment.  These  alone  in  the 
case  of  an  innocent  person  would  be  sufficient  to  induce 
a  feeling  of  terror  and  despair  and  a  dread  of  impending 
death.  For  it  must  be  remembered,  as  a  factor  of  pro¬ 
found  significance,  that  in  all  the  cases  recorded,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware,  the  crimes  charged  were  punishable  by 
death.  Were  this  factor  absent,  much  of  what  has 

1  See  article.  Hypnotism,  A  Universal  Ajicesthetic  in  Surgery. 


234 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


been  said  would  lose  its  significance ;  for  it  is  the  fear 
of  impending  death  that  induces  the  subjective  condition. 

The  next  factor  to  be  considered  is  whatever  may 
exist  in  the  way  of  circumstantial  evidence  of  guilt. 
Not  that  circumstantial  evidence  would,  ^er  se,  con¬ 
vince  an  innocent  person  of  his  own  guilt ;  but  that  he 
would  estimate  it  at  its  full  value  as  a  link  in  the  chain 
which  fate  was  forging  for  his  destruction.  Of  course 
the  stronger  the  chain  of  circumstantial  evidence  the 
greater  would  be  his  despair  of  being  able  to  overcome 
it ;  and  if  he  should  be  unable  to  explain  it  away,  his 
despair  would  be  complete.  Death  would  stare  him  in 
the  face,  and  every  condition  necessary  to  the  induction 
of  the  subjective  condition  would  be  present  and  active. 
All  this,  however,  would  be  insufficient  to  induce  a  con¬ 
fession  of  guilt,  or  a  doubt  in  his  own  mind  as  to  his 
innocence.  In  addition  to  all  this  there  must  be  a  strong, 
vigorous,  affirmative  suggestion  of  guilt  coming  from 
another.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  methods  of 
detectives  in  this  day  and  age  of  enlightenment,  may 
have  some  idea  of  the  suggestions  that  are  borne  in  upon 
the  unhappy  victims  of  circumstances.  Fortunately  we 
are  not  left  entirely  to  conjecture  as  to  the  methods  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  golden  days  agone;  for  we  have  at  least 
one  concrete  example  on  record  which  typifies  all  the 
rest,  ancient  and,  probably,  modern.  It  occurred  in 
the  days  of  Cotton  Mather.  In  President  Andrew  D. 
White’s  great  work  on  The  Warfare  of  Science  with 
Theology,  he  gives  a  very  graphic  account  of  the  New 
England  persecutions  for  witchcraft;  and  in  speaking 
of  the  confessions  that  were  common  in  those  days,  he 
says : 

“  Confessions  of  witchcraft  abounded ;  but  the  way 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  235 


these  confessions  were  obtained  is  touchingly  exhibited 
in  a  statement  afterwards  made  by  several  women.  In 
explaining  the  reasons  why,  when  charged  with  afflict¬ 
ing  sick  persons,  they  made  a  false  confession  they 
said : 

“  ‘  .  By  reason  of  that  suddain  surprizal,  we  knowing 

ourselves  altogether  Innocent  of  that  Crime,  we  were  all  ex¬ 
ceedingly  astonished  and  amazed,  and  consternated  and  af¬ 
frighted  even  out  of  our  Reason ;  and  our  nearest  and  dearest 
Relations,  seeing  us  in  that  dreadful  condition,  and  knowing 
our  great  danger,  apprehending  that  there  was  no  other  way 
to  save  our  lives,  .  .  .  out  of  tender  .  .  .  pitty  perswaded  us 
to  confess  what  we  did  confess.  And  indeed  that  Confession, 
that  it  was  said  we  made,  was  no  other  than  what  was  suggested 
to  us  by  so?ne  Gentlemen  j  they  telling  us,  that  we  were  Witches, 
and  they  knew  it,  and  we  knew  it,  and  they  knew  that  we 
knew  it,  which  made  us  thvik  that  it  was  so ;  and  our  under¬ 
standing,  our  reason,  and  our  faculties  almost  gone,  we  were 
not  capable  of  judging  our  condition;  as  also  the  hard  measures 
they  used  with  us,  rendered  us  incapable  of  making  our  De¬ 
fence,  but  said  anything  and  everything  which  they  desired,  and 
most  of  what  we  said,  was  in  effect  a  consenting  to  what  they 
said.  .  . 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  typical  example  of  perfect  an¬ 
tecedent  conditions,  and  of  the  most  effective  method 
of  producing  the  result.  We  have  the  arrest  of  innocent 
persons,  the  imprisonment,  the  accusation  of  a  crime 
punishable  by  death,  the  dethronement  of  reason,  the 
vigorous  suggestion,  so  strongly  enforced  as  to  cause 
the  belief  of  guilt  in  the  minds  of  the  victims,  and  we 
have  the  consequent  confession.""  I  submit  that  no  stu¬ 
dent  of  experimental  psychology  of  the  present  day, 
knowing  all  that  is  known  of  the  law  of  suggestion,  and 
practised  in  the  methods  of  enforcing  a  false  suggestion, 
could  formulate  a  “  set  phrase  of  speech  ”  more  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  purpose  than  the  one  we  have  quoted. 


236  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

When  we  add  to  that  form  of  words  the  dominating 
personality  of  the  “  Gentlemen  ”  inquisitors,  the  con¬ 
stant  iteration  and  reiteration  of  the  charge  of  guilt, 
the  exhortation  to  open  confession  as  a  recipe  for  curing 
the  ills  of  the  soul  in  this  world,  and  a  fire  insurance 
policy  for  the  next,  we  can  readily  see  that  if  they  had 
not  confessed,  and  believed  in  the  verity  of  their  con¬ 
fession,  it  would  have  constituted  an  exceptional  case 
—  a  suspension,  in  fact,  of  a  law  of  nature. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  witchcraft  cases  pre¬ 
sented  exceptionally  favorable  conditions  —  conditions 
not  present  in  the  closing  hours  of  the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury,  and,  consequently,  not  applicable  to  any  possible 
case  in  current  history.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that 
it  is  fortunately  true  that  the  witchcraft  cases  are  not 
likely  to  be  repeated  in  the  future.  It  is  also  true  that 
the  conditions  were  exceptionally  favorable,  in  that  the 
victims  were  mostly  women  and  children.  But  the  law 
is  the  same  in  all  cases ;  and  it  will  readily  be  seen  that 
the  law  and  the  reasoning  are  as  applicable  to  the  case 
cited  at  length  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper  as  it  is 
to  the  witchcraft  cases.  The  latter  predominate  in  num¬ 
bers,  it  is  true,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  all  those 
cases  are  free  from  doubt ;  for  the  reason  that  when 
a  party  confesses  to  the  crime  of  witchcraft  we  know 
that  she  is  innocent.  But  we  do  not  know  how  many 
innocent  men  have  been  hanged  in  consequence  of  con¬ 
fessions  of  guilt.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
subsequent  proof  of  innocence  is  the  exception ;  so  that 
the  preponderance  of  witchcraft  cases  may  not  be  nearly 
so  great  as  appearances  indicate. 

These  remarks  apply  to  modern  times  as  well  as  to 
the  time  when  a  bare  confession  was  considered  con- 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  237 

elusive  evidence  of  guilt.  And  this  must  be  my  excuse 
for  thrusting  an  apparently  obsolete  question  upon  the 
attention  of  this  society.  It  is  true  that  in  this  country 
the  corpus  delicti  must  be  established  before  any  one 
can  be  punished  for  murder;  and  it  has  been  held  that 
the  prisoner’s  confession,  when  the  corpus  delicti  is 
not  otherwise  proven,  is  insufficient  for  his  conviction. 
But  it  has  also  been  held  that  when  the  corpus  delicti 
is  otherwise  established  the  prisoner’s  confession  is  suffi¬ 
cient.  I  think,  however,  that  later  decisions  require 
further  corroborative  evidence.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we 
will  assume  that  the  latter,  and  more  humane  rule, 
prevails.  Assuming  this  for  the  sake  of  the  argument, 
it  would  seem  that  all  possible  safeguards  had  been 
thrown  around  this  class  of  cases.  But  this  idea  will 
be  dispelled  when  it  is  remembered  that  even  the  corpus 
delicti  can  be  established  to  the  satisfaction  of  our  courts 
and  juries  by  a  very  slight  degree  of  circumstantial 
evidence.  Witness  the  case  of  the  Chicago  sausage 
maker,  who  was  accused  of  cooking  his  wife,  and  pos¬ 
sibly,  otherwise  utilizing  her  in  his  business.  That 
case  was  not  at  all  complicated  —  or  simplified  —  by 
a  confession.  A  possible  motive  was  shown,  and  his 
wife  had  disappeared ;  but  beyond  that  the  tangible 
evidence  of  guilt  consisted  of  a  finger-ring  and  a  piece 
of  bone  found  in  the  tank  in  which  it  was  supposed 
that  his  wife  had  met  her  doom.  Does  any  one  imagine 
that  if  he  had  confessed  the  crime  the  finger-ring  and 
the  piece  of  bone  would  have  been  called  into  requisi¬ 
tion  ?  The  evidence  in  that  case,  establishing  the  corpus 
delicti,  was  curiously  parallel  to  that  in  the  Booms’ 
case  quoted.  In  the  latter  case  a  motive  was  shown, 
and  the  supposed  victim  had  disappeared.  Beyond  that 
the  evidence  was  confined  to  a  trousers-button,  a  piece 


238  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

of  bone,  a  pocket-knife,  an  old  hat  and  some  nails,  all 
assumed  to  have  belonged  to  the  supposed  victim.  In 
neither  case  was  the  death  of  the  supposed  victim  proven 
by  any  positive  tangible  evidence  whatever.  But  that 
is  neither  here  nor  there.  The  point  is  that  even  if  the 
rule  prevails  that  when  the  dead  body  is  in  evidence, 
an  otherwise  uncorroborated  confession  would  be  insuf¬ 
ficient  to  warrant  a  conviction,  the  danger  is  not  per¬ 
ceptibly  diminished.  For  in  view  of  the  small  amount 
of  circumstantial  evidence  required  to  establish  so  vital 
a  point  as  the  corpus  delicti,  it  is  obvious  that,  if  that 
were  not  in  question,  an  exceedingly  small  amount  of 
circumstantial  evidence  would  be  sufficient  to  sustain 
a  confession.  Moreover,  the  requisite  amount  is  morally 
certain  to  be  forthcoming,  since  a  certain  weight  of 
such  evidence  is  always  necessary  to  warrant  even  an 
arrest  for  a  capital  crime. 

In  this  connection  a  curious  psychological  fact  must 
be  mentioned,  for  it  is  invested  with  a  profound  sig¬ 
nificance  in  connection  with  the  question  of  circum¬ 
stantial  evidence.  Every  experimental  psychologist 
will  bear  me  out  in  the  assertion  that  whenever  a  per¬ 
son  in  the  subjective  condition  makes  a  statement  of 
fact,  he  will  seek  to  corroborate  that  statement  by  every 
means  available.  And  this  is  true  whether  the  state¬ 
ment  is  veridical  or  false  —  whether  it  is  adverse  to  his 
interests  or  favorable,  whether  it  is  sensible  or  idiotic. 
One  of  the  most  marvellous  phenomena  in  this  connec¬ 
tion  is  shown  in  the  wonderful  ingenuity  displayed  by 
the  psychic  in  finding  corroborative  reasons  and  evi¬ 
dence  to  sustain  his  assertions.  This  fact  is  accounted 
for  in  two  ways,  —  first,  by  the  fact  that  the  subjective 
mind  is  characterized  by  monumental  egotism ;  and 
secondly,  by  the  fact  that,  under  the  law  of  suggestion, 


CRIMINAL  CONFESSIONS  OF  THE  INNOCENT  239 

the  subjective  mind  is  incapable  of  assimilating  a  fact 
that  is  not  corroborative  of  the  suggestion  that  is  dom¬ 
inant  for  the  time  being. 

Hence  it  is  that  when  an  innocent  person  confesses 
a  crime,  he  will  utilize  every  scrap  of  circumstantial 
evidence  against  himself  for  the  sake  of  corroborating 
his  false  confession. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that,  in  the  admission  by  courts 
of  justice  of  confessions  of  guilt  by  persons  charged 
with  capital  crimes,  there  is  constant  and  imminent 
danger  of  being  led  into  that  greatest  of  all  judicial 
misfortunes  —  the  capital  punishment  of  an  innocent 
person.  If  that  humane  and  merciful  maxim  of  the 
law  is  to  prevail,  that  it  is  better  that  ten  guilty  men 
should  escape  than  that  one  innocent  person  should  be 
punished,  a  rule  of  evidence  must  be  adopted,  forbid¬ 
ding  the  consideration,  under  any  circumstances,  of 
confessions  by  persons  charged  with  capital  crimes. 
And  the  first  step  in  that  direction  should  be  the  aboli¬ 
tion  of  what  is  known,  in  the  parlance  of  criminal 
detectives,  as  the  “  sweating  ”  system ;  that  system 
under  which  a  detective  is  turned  loose  upon  a  person 
charged  with  murder,  and  allowed  to  browbeat  him  into 
a  confession  before  he  has  a  chance  to  employ  counsel. 
It  matters  nothing  that  the  rule  prevails  excluding  the 
confession  if  the  party  is  not  cautioned  that  all  he  may 
say  will  be  used  against  him  on  the  trial;  for  the  psy¬ 
chological  condition  necessary  to  secure  a  “  voluntary  ” 
confession  can  just  as  well  be  induced  by  a  shrewd  de¬ 
tective  after  such  a  warning  as  before.  Every  one  who 
is  familiar  with  the  system  alluded  to  will  bear  me  out 
when  I  say  that  the  facilities  are  just  as  available  to-day 
for  inducing  the  psychological  conditions  necessary  for 
securing  a  confession  of  guilt  from  an  innocent  person. 


240  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

as  they  were  under  the  inquisitorial  system  of  days  of 
medieval  superstition. 

These  remarks,  as  before  intimated,  apply  exclusively 
to  confessions  of  capital  crimes;  for  it  is  not  certain 
that  the  psychological  conditions  which  we  have  been 
considering  could  be  induced  in  cases  not  involving  the 
life  of  the  accused.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  not  certain 
that  the  subjective  state  could  be  induced  in  criminal 
cases  by  anything  less  than  the  fear  of  death  or  of 
physical  torture. 

As  in  all  other  cases  where  the  line  of  observation  is 
new,  much  must  remain  in  doubt  as  to  the  limit  of  appli¬ 
cation  of  the  law  of  suggestion  to  criminal  confessions. 
But  I  think  we  are  even  now  warranted  in  assuming 
that  the  following  fundamental  principles  a.re  reasonably 
well  established. 

1.  The  dread  of  impending  death  will  cause  certain 
persons  to  enter,  spontaneously,  the  subjective  condition. 

2.  In  the  subjective  condition  the  subject  is  con¬ 
stantly  amenable  to  control  by  the  power  of  suggestion. 

3.  A  strong  suggestion,  vigorously  enforced  by  a 
dominant  personality  upon  a  person  in  the  subjective 
condition,  will  cause  the  latter  to  believe  in  its  absolute 
verity,  and  to  act  upon  it  in  all  essentials  as  though  it 
were  true,  even  though  the  suggestion  be  contrary  to 
fact,  reason,  experience,  and  the  evidence  of  the  senses. 

4.  Finally,  the  proposition  that  works  back  to  the 
foregoing  and  invests  it  with  perennial  importance  to 
courts  of  criminal  justice,  is  that  —  assuming  the  con¬ 
stancy  of  Nature  —  whatever  power,  faculty,  or  limita¬ 
tion  belongs  to  any  one  individual,  must  exist,  potentially, 
in  every  member  of  the  human  family. 


X 


HYPNOTISM  A  UNIVERSAL  ANESTHETIC 
IN  SURGERY 

^  ■  ^HE  question  has  often  been  asked,  “  Can  hyp- 
□  notism  be  generally  used  as  an  anaesthetic  in 
-fl-  surgery?”  The  answer  has  uniformly  been 
that  it  cannot.  Both  of  the  great  schools  of  hypnotism 
—  the  Nancy  and  the  Paris  school  —  unite  in  the  em¬ 
phatic  declaration  that  “  it  cannot  take  the  place  of 
chloroform.”  The  reason  given  is  that  it  is  impossible 
to  hypnotize  a  person  at  the  time  of  an  operation  except 
in  the  comparatively  rare  cases  where  the  patient  has 
previously  been  in  the  habit  of  being  hypnotized.  It 
is  generally  admitted  by  all  modern  scientific  writers  on 
the  subject  that  hypnotism  can  be  successfully  employed 
as  an  anaesthetic  in  the  most  severe  surgical  operations, 
under  certain  exceptionally  favorable  conditions.  The 
first  of  these  is  stated  above,  and  the  second  is  that  a 
state  of  profound  hypnotic  sleep  must  first  be  induced. 
Most  writers  dismiss  the  subject  with  a  statement  equiv¬ 
alent  to  the  foregoing. 

The  object  of  this  paper  is  not  so  much  to  call  in  ques¬ 
tion  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions  of  writers  on  this 
subject  as  to  suggest  an  entirely  new  line  of  inquiry 
with  a  view  of  ascertaining  if  Nature  has  not  provided 
a  universal  anaesthetic  in  a  condition  cognate  to  that  of 
hypnosis.  Confining  the  latter  to  its  original  significa- 

i6 


242  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

tion,  or  to  that  of  its  Greek  radix,  it  means,  simply, 
“  sleep.”  And  it  seems  probable  that  the  conclusion  of 
the  hypnotists  regarding  the  use  of  hypnotism  in  sur¬ 
gery  may  have  been  influenced  by  the  limitations  of  the 
signification  of  the  term ;  although  Bernheim  has 
pointed  out  that  the  power  of  suggestion  (which  is  the 
potent  factor  in  hypnotism)  is  not  confined  to  the  sleep¬ 
ing  patient.  Indeed,  Bernheim’s  definition  of  hypnotism 
enlarges  its  scope  far  beyond  the  limitations  of  the 
Braidian  definition,  which  is  “induced  sleep.”  He  says; 
“  I  define  hypnotism  as  the  induction  of  a  peculiar  psy¬ 
chical  condition,  which  increases  the  susceptibility  to 
suggestion.”  ^  For  the  purposes  of  this  article  this 
definition  will  be  accepted  as  substantially  correct. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  main  line  of  argument  it 
may  be  well  to  give  the  non-professional  reader  a  clear 
idea  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  “  suggestion  ”  as  it  is 
employed  in  hypnotic  science.  Suggestion  is  a  state¬ 
ment  (true  or  false)  made  to  a  hypnotized  subject.  Its 
potency  consists  in  the  fact  that  in  the  hypnotic  condi¬ 
tion  the  subject  unhesitatingly  believes  the  statement  or 
suggestion,  and  acts  upon  it  just  as  though  it  were  true. 
Its  potency  as  a  therapeutic  agent  consists  in  the  fact, 
first,  that  a  subject  in  the  hypnotic  state  is  constantly 
amenable  to  control  by  suggestion ;  second,  that  in  the 
hypnotic  state  the  subject  has  complete  control  over 
the  functions  and  sensations  of  his  body;  and,  con¬ 
sequently,  that  if  the  suggestion  is  made  to  a  hypnotized 
subject  that  he  feels  no  pain,  all  pain  instantly  ceases. 
It  is  thus  that  a  state  of  anaesthesia  is  induced  v/hich 
enables  a  surgeon  to  amputate  a  limb  without  inflicting 
the  slightest  pain  upon  the  patient. 

Bernheim  pertinently  remarks  that  “  it  is  suggestion 

1  Suggestive  Therapeutics,  p.  15. 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY 


243 


that  rules  hypnotism.”  This  is  true  in  the  sense  that 
when  a  subject  is  in  the  hypnotic  state  he  is  constantly 
amenable  to  control  by  the  power  of  suggestion.  This 
is  the  fundamental  law  of  hypnotism.  It  is  also  true 
that  hypnotism  may  be  induced  by  suggestion.  The 
Nancy  school  holds  that  it  is  and  can  be  induced  in  no 
other  way.  This,  as  I  have  elsewhere  ^  pointed  out,  is 
a  fundamental  error;  and  it  is  an  error  that  has  led  to 
many  erroneous  conclusions  regarding  psychic  phe¬ 
nomena  of  various  classes. 

It  is  also  an  error  to  suppose  that  it  requires  a  state  of 
profound  hypnotic  sleep  to  induce  a  state  of  anaesthesia. 
It  is  this  error  that  has  led  to  the  belief  that  hypnotism 
cannot  be  generally  employed  as  an  anaesthetic  in  sur¬ 
gery.  It  is  my  belief  that  in  a  great  majority  of  cases 
it  can  be  successfully  so  employed.  I  do  not  pretend  to 
dogmatize  on  the  subject.  It  is  too  early  for  that.  But 
I  do  say  that  there  are  facts  in  abundance  which  point 
in  that  direction ;  and  they  are  facts  within  the  common 
knowledge  and  experience  of  mankind.  I  propose  to 
invite  the  attention  of  the  medical  profession  to  a  few 
of  these  facts  for  the  sole  purpose  of  stimulating  inquiry 
and  suggesting  a  line  of  experiment,  which  may  or  may 
not  lead  to  important  results,  but  which  can  at  least  do 
no  harm.  If  successful,  they  will  demonstrate  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  a  law,  hitherto  unsuspected,  which,  properly 
understood  and  intelligently  applied,  will  enable  the  pro¬ 
fession  to  employ  hypnotism  as  a  universal  anaesthetic 
in  surgery. 

The  fundamental  propositions  of  my  hypothesis  are 
few  and  easily  understood.  They  are: 

I.  Persons  in  the  hypnotic  state  are  constantly  amen¬ 
able  to  control  by  suggestion. 

^  See  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,  p.  89. 


244 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


2.  The  hypnotic  state  can  be  induced  without  the  aid 
of  suggestion. 

The  first  of  these  propositions  no  hypnotist  of  intelli¬ 
gence  will  question.  It  is,  as  before  remarked,  the  fun¬ 
damental  law  of  hypnotism,  and  little  time  will  be 
employed  in  its  elucidation.  It  is,  however,  not  so  gen¬ 
erally  known  that  the  proposition  is  true  of  all  grades 
and  degrees  of  hypnotism.  Bernheim  has  very  clearly 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  suggestion  is  potent  in  many 
subjects  even  in  what  he  terms  the  “waking  state”; 
although  it  must  be  doubted  whether  any  one  in  a  per¬ 
fectly  normal  condition  can  be  influenced  by  suggestion 
so  far  as  to  produce  a  hallucination.  That  is  to  say,  it 
must  not  be  understood  that  the  term  “  waking  state  ” 
implies  that  the  patient  is  in  no  degree  hypnotized.  It 
only  means  that  the  patient  is  hypnotized  in  so  slight  a 
degree  that  he  appears  to  be  awake  and  in  his  normal 
condition.  There  must  always  be  some  degree  of  hyp¬ 
nosis —  some  abeyance  of  the  objective  faculties  —  to 
render  the  subject  amenable  to  control  by  suggestion. 
But  that  degree  may  be  very  slight,  as  the  following 
observations  by  Bernheim  will  demonstrate: 

“  Some  of  them  at  least  show  exactly  the  same  phenomena  in 
the  waking  condition  as  in  the  hypnotic  state ;  some  exhibit 
suggestive  catalepsy  with  muscular  contraction,  or  a  varying 
contracture  only;  others,  catalepsy  with  automatic  movements; 
others,  at  the  same  time,  suggestive  sensitivo-sensorial  anaesthesia ; 
and  others  still,  all  suggestive  phenomena  up  to  hallucination.” 
(^Suggestive  Therapeutics,  p.  79.) 

Again,  on  page  81,  we  find  the  following: 

“In  one  of  my  somnambulistic  cases  (S - ,  whose  history 

I  have  already  given)  I  can  obtain  all  possible  modifications  of 
sensibility  in  the  waking  condition.  It  suffices  to  say,  ‘Your 
left  side  is  insensible.’  Then,  if  I  prick  his  left  arm  with  a  pin, 
stick  the  pin  into  his  nostril,  touch  the  mucous  membrane  of  his 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY 


245 


eye,  or  tickle  his  throat,  he  does  not  move.  The  other  side  of 
his  body  reacts.  I  transfer  the  anaesthesia  from  the  left  to  the 
right  side.  I  produce  total  anaesthesia,  which  was,  on  one  occa¬ 
sion  so  profound  that  my  chef  de  cliniqxie  pulled  out  the  roots 
of  five  teeth  which  were  deeply  imbedded  in  the  gums,  twisting 
them  around  in  their  sockets  for  more  than  ten  minutes.  I 
simply  said  to  the  patient,  ‘  You  will  have  no  feeling  whatever.’ 
He  laughed  as  he  spit  out  the  blood,  and  did  not  show  the  least 
symptom  of  pain.” 

On  page  83  the  following  case  is  related : 

“In  G - (Marie,  whose  case  I  have  already  related)  I  can 

induce  catalepsy,  automatic  movements,  anaesthesia,  and  hallu¬ 
cinations  in  the  waking  condition.  I  wish  only  to  speak  of  the 
anaesthesia.  After  having  ascertained  that  sensation  throughout 
the  body  was  perfect,  I  said  to  her,  ‘  You  have  absolutely  no 
more  feeling  in  your  right  upper  limb,  it  is  just  as  if  dead.’ 
With  her  eyes  closed  she  no  longer  reacts  to  the  pin.  She  does 
not  know  whether  her  arm  is  up  or  on  the  bed ;  her  muscular 
sense  is  gone.  In  order  to  e.xclude  all  idea  of  deception,  I  use 
Du  Bois-Reymond’s  apparatus,  varying  the  intensity  of  the  cur¬ 
rent  by  alternately  separating  and  approximating  the  coils  of 
the  induction  apparatus.  A  rule  graded  into  centimetres  indi¬ 
cates  the  degree  of  separation  of  the  coils.  Now  I  have  already 
determined  that  the  tingling  caused  by  the  electricity  was  per¬ 
ceived  by  this  subject  when  the  separation  between  the  ends  was 
five  centimetres,  and  that  the  pain  became  unendurable,  the 
patient  drawing  back  the  arm  suddenly,  when  the  separation 
was  from  three  to  two  centimetres.  These  figures  remained 
absolutely  the  same  when  her  eyes  were  tightly  closed,  so  that 
she  could  not  have  observed  the  degree  of  separation,  and  I 
have  proved  this  several  times.  By  this  means  I  determined 
that  the  pain  is  really  perceived  and  not  pretended. 

“  This  being  granted,  I  provoke  anaesthesia  b)'  affirmation,  and 
place  the  electrodes  on  her  arm  with  the  greatest  current  attain¬ 
able  with  the  greatest  approximation  of  the  coils.  The  painful 
sensation  thus  produced  is  normally  absolutely  unbearable.” 

Professor  Bernheim  was,  I  believe,  the  first  to  mention 
these  phenomena  of  suggestion  in  the  waking  condi¬ 
tion,  in  a  report  made  to  the  Congress  for  the  Ad¬ 
vancement  of  Science  in  1883.  They  have  since  been 
confirmed  by  his  European  contemporaries,  Bottoy,  Du- 


246  THE  EVOLUTIOH  OF  THE  SOUL 

montpallier,  Richet,  and  others ;  and  in  this  country  the 
same  phenomenon  was  independently  observed  by  Dr. 
Hammond. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  these  subjects 
were  patients  of  Professor  Bernheim,  and  had  fre¬ 
quently  been  hypnotized  by  him  before  the  experiments 
were  tried.  The  cases  have,  however,  a  direct  bearing 
upon  the  question  before  us,  inasmuch  as  they  show  how 
slight  a  degree  of  hypnosis  is  necessary  to  enable  the 
operator  to  produce  a  state  of  complete  analgesia  by 
suggestion ;  for  it  is  obvious  that  a  surgical  operation 
of  the  most  severe  character  could  have  been  performed 
upon  either  of  the  patients  mentioned.  They  are  de¬ 
monstrative  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  induce  a  state  of 
profound  hypnotic  lethargy  in  order  to  perform  a  pain¬ 
less  surgical  operation. 

My  second  proposition,  that  “  the  hypnotic  state  can 
be  induced  without  the  aid  of  suggestion,”  will  now  be 
discussed.  I  have  shown,  in  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phe¬ 
nomena,  by  quotations  from  the  works  of  Dr.  Braid,  the 
father  of  modern  scientific  hypnotism  and  the  origi¬ 
nator  of  the  term,  that  a  state  of  profound  hypnosis  can 
be  induced  without  the  aid  of  suggestion.  I  shall  not 
repeat  my  observations  there  made,  but  will  attempt  to 
show  that  Nature  has  provided  a  means  for  the  induc¬ 
tion  of  the  hypnotic  state  in  all  cases  where  a  surgical 
operation  becomes  a  necessity. 

In  attempting  to  do  this  I  shall  rest  content  if  I  can 
make  a  prima  facie  case.  I  will  endeavor  to  show  that 
the  law  (of  nature)  is  on  my  side,  and  will  then  sub¬ 
mit  the  case  to  a  jury  of  experts  consisting  of  the 
medical  profession. 

I  will  now  invite  attention  to  a  few  well-known  facts 
the  significance  of  which  never  seems  to  have  been  ap- 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY 


247 


preciated.  In  the  work  before  mentioned  I  have  drawn 
attention  to  the  fact  that  when  a  person  is  in  imminent 
and  deadly  peril  he  is  instantly  thrown  into  a  state  of 
anaesthesia ;  or,  in  other  words,  into  a  partially  hypnotic 
condition.  It  is  the  universal  testimony  of  soldiers  who 
have  been  in  battle  that  the  moment  the  fight  com¬ 
mences  all  fear  vanishes.  It  is  also  the  universal  tes¬ 
timony  of  those  who  have  been  wounded  that  a  stricken 
soldier  never  feels  a  wound,  and  never  knows  he  is 
wounded  until  he  is  disabled.  Surgeon-General  Ham¬ 
mond  once  remarked  in  my  hearing :  “  A  soldier  never 
knows  he  is  wounded  unless  he  is  stricken  down ;  and, 
if  his  wound  is  mortal,  he  dies  without  pain  and  without 
regret.”  It  seems  to  be  a  universal  law  that,  when  death 
is  inevitable,  the  nearer  it  approaches  the  less  it  is  feared ; 
and  that,  when  it  comes,  it  brings  no  pain  and  no  sor¬ 
row  to  its  victim.  The  reason  is  obvious.  The  patient 
passes  into  a  hypnotic  state,  or  a  condition  cognate 
thereto ;  and  he  is  in  a  complete  state  of  analgesia,  body 
and  mind,  if  the  term  may  be  applied  to  the  condition  of 
exemption  from  mental  suffering.  The  phenomenon  is 
strikingly  exhibited  in  cases  of  criminals  who  have  been 
sentenced  to  be  hanged.  The  moment  all  hope  is  lost 
and  death  is  inevitable,  they  relapse  into  a  state  of  pro¬ 
found  indifference ;  and,  when  the  fatal  hour  arrives, 
they  march  to  their  doom  without  fear,  without  emotion, 
and  without  regret.  It  is  often  said  of  them  that  they 
“  exhibited  great  courage  ”  and  “  died  game.”  The 
truth  is  that  Nature  has  done  for  them  just  what  it  does 
for  all  living  creatures,  —  namely,  it  has,  upon  the  ap¬ 
proach  of  death,  thrown  them  into  that  subjective  or 
hypnotic  condition  which  banishes  pain  and  robs  death 
of  its  terrors. 

Volumes  might  be  filled  with  illustrations  of  the  fact. 


248  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

which  is  well  known  to  the  medical  profession,  that 
when  death  is  imminent  or  inevitable  Nature  provides 
an  anaesthetic  in  the  hypnotic  condition  which  insures  an 
easy  and  painless,  if  not  a  pleasurable,  passage  to  the 
other  side.  I  say  “  hypnotic  condition,”  because  it  pos¬ 
sesses  all  the  salient  characteristics  of  that  state,  even 
to  suggestibility,  as  is  shown  in  the  well-known  fact 
that  the  hallucinations  of  the  dying  invariably  corre¬ 
spond  to  the  suggestions  embraced  in  their  lifelong 
beliefs. 

I  now  desire  to  invite  attention  to  another  class  of 
facts,  which  are  equally  well  known,  but  the  significance 
of  which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  appreciated.  I  will 
begin  by  citing  one  which  almost  any  one  of  adult  age 
can  verify  from  experience.  Did  any  one  ever  go  to 
a  dentist’s  office  with  a  raging  toothache  and  a  firm  res¬ 
olution  to  have  the  offending  member  removed,  without 
finding  that  all  pain  ceased  as  soon  as  the  dentist’s  office 
was  reached  ?  If  any  one  has  had  a  different  experience 
the  fact  has  not  been  recorded.  There  may  have  been 
apparent  exceptions  to  the  rule,  but  it  will  be  found  that, 
in  every  case  where  the  tooth  did  not  cease  to  ache  when 
the  dentist’s  office  was  reached,  it  was  because  the  pa¬ 
tient  had  not  fully  made  up  his  mind  to  part  with  the 
tooth  without  first  making  an  effort  to  save  it  by  some 
means  less  heroic  than  elimination.  It  may  be  safely 
said  that,  in  all  cases  of  toothache  where  extraction  is 
resolved  upon,  the  pain  ceases  when  the  patient  ap¬ 
proaches  the  operating  chair.  This  phenomenon  means 
something.  Nature  does  not  produce  phenomena  for  fun, 
and  it  is  the  province  of  science  to  interpret  this  meaning 
on  lines  which  will  relieve  Nature  from  the  imputation 
of  habitually  perpetrating  a  joke  on  the  victims  of  tooth¬ 
ache.  Here,  then,  is  a  state  of  local  anscsthesia  in- 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY 


249 


duced  by  a  mental  emotion.  That  emotion  is  produced 
by  an  approach  to  a  surgical  operation.  The  question  is, 
What  is  the  mental  condition  thus  produced?  Is  it  not 
a  condition  cognate  to  that  of  hypnotism,  and  identical 
with  that  induced  by  imminent  and  deadly  peril?  Cer¬ 
tainly  the  phenomena  are  the  same,  and  we  have  there¬ 
fore  a  right  to  infer  that  the  cause  is  the  same.  Nor 
does  this  phenomenon  stand  alone.  It  is  more  fre¬ 
quently  observed  than  any  other,  because  every  one  has 
had  teeth  pulled.  But  it  is  also  true  that  in  other  surgi¬ 
cal  operations  all  pain  ceases  when  the  surgeon  begins 
to  display  his  instruments  in  presence  of  the  patient. 
This  being  true,  it  may  be  set  down  as  a  general  propo¬ 
sition,  provisionally  at  least,  that  the  near  approach  to 
a  surgical  operation  will  always  induce  the  hypnotic 
state  in  a  degree  sufficient  to  produce  local  ancesthesia 
in  the  part  about  to  be  amputated  or  operated  upon. 

We  have  now  seen  how  slight  a  degree  of  hypnosis 
is  required  to  render  a  subject  amenable  to  control  by 
suggestion.  We  have  seen  that  the  subject,  even  in  the 
“  waking  condition,”  may  be  so  completely  anjESthetized 
by  suggestion  as  to  bear  without  the  slightest  sensation 
a  torture  which  “  is  normally  absolutely  unbearable.” 
It  is  also  v/ell  known  to  every  intelligent  student  of  h3'p- 
notism  that  persons  in  the  hypnotic  state  are  constantly 
amenable  to  control  by  suggestion.  This,  as  has  been 
rem.arked,  is  the  fundamental  law  of  hypnotism.  It  is 
a  corollary  of  these  propositions  that,  when  a  patient  is 
about  to  undergo  a  surgical  operation,  he  is  invariably 
thrown  into  a  partially  hypnotic  state,  and  that  conse¬ 
quently  all  that  is  needed  to  insure  a  painless  operation 
is  a  vigorous  and  an  intelligent  suggestion  that  he  will 
feel  no  pain. 

I  cannot  but  be  aware  that  this  is  a  conclusion  so  radi- 


250 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


cally  at  variance  with  all  that  has  been  written  on  the 
subject  that  credulity  will  be  taxed  and  proofs  de¬ 
manded.  I  will  therefore  present  a  few  of  the  many 
facts  which  might  be  cited  in  support  of  my  hypothesis. 
An  eye-witness,  well  known  to  me  to  be  entirely  trust¬ 
worthy,  relates  the  following: 

“  A  boy  in  St.  Louis  had  one  of  his  legs  crushed  in  a  street-car 
accident,  and  amputation  became  necessary.  A  local  hypnotist 
undertook  to  hypnotize  the  patient,  but  failed  to  produce  anything 
approaching  sleep.  In  making  the  attempt,  however,  he  strongly 
suggested  anaesthesia.  When  it  became  apparent  that  the  boy 
could  not  be  put  to  sleep,  the  surgeon  proceeded  with  the  oper¬ 
ation  without  administering  anaesthetics ;  and,  to  the  surprise  of 
every  one  present,  the  hypnotist  included,  the  boy  felt  not  the 
slightest  pain,  and  conversed  coolly  and  cheerfully  during  the 
whole  operation.” 

In  this  case  the  boy  knew  nothing  of  hypnotism  or  its 
expected  effect  upon  him,  save  that  it  would  secure 
immunity  from  pain,  and  he  believed  that  the  mysterious 
passes  were  all  that  were  required. 

A  prominent  Washington  physician  relates  the  fol¬ 
lowing,  not  of  his  own  experience,  but  the  facts  of  which 
he  verified  beyond  doubt : 

“  A  country  fiddler  had  a  bad  leg  which  it  became  necessary  to 
amputate.  The  surgeon  came  at  the  appointed  time,  prepared 
with  an  anaesthetic,  which  he  was  about  to  administer.  The 
patient  refused  to  take  it,  however,  and  insisted  upon  having  his 
fiddle  brought  to  him,  saying :  ‘  Just  give  me  my  old  fiddle.  I 
have  always  fiddled  my  pains  away,  and  I  can  do  it  now.’  The 
fiddle  was  brought  and  he  played  during  the  whole  operation, 
and  declared  that  he  felt  no  pain  whatever.” 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  case  illustrates  very 
clearly  the  fact  that  auto-suggestion  is  as  potent  a  factor 
in  hypnotism  as  suggestion  by  another. 

Another  case  of  auto-suggestion  was  related  by  the 
same  physician : 


HYPNOTISM  IN  .SURGERY 


251 


“  The  patient  had  been  a  sufferer  for  many  years  from  a  dis¬ 
ease  of  the  knee-cap.  The  skill  of  the  medical  profession  had 
been  taxed  to  the  utmost  limit  in  a  vain  effort  to  mitigate  his 
sufferings,  and  finally  it  was  decided  that  amputation  was  neces¬ 
sary.  It  was  proposed  to  administer  chloroform,  but  the  patient 
refused.  ‘  I  have  suffered  so  much  misery  from  the  thing,’  said 
he,  ‘that  I  am  determined  to  be  an  eye-witness  to  my  own  de¬ 
liverance.  I  am  sure  it  will  feel  good  to  have  it  removed.’  The 
operation  was  proceeded  with,  and  the  patient  declared  that  the 
sensation  was  actually  pleasurable,  and  his  actions  verified  his 
statement.” 

A  lady  of  my  acquaintance  informs  me  that  she  pos¬ 
sesses  the  power  to  prevent  all  pain  when  having  her 
own  teeth  drawn,  or  when  having  them  filled,  by  “  treat¬ 
ing  herself  ”  mentally,  after  the  manner  of  the  “  Chris¬ 
tian  Scientists.”  A  case  of  effective  auto-suggestion, 
pure  and  simple.^ 

A  few  years  ago  an  itinerant  lecturer  (subject  not 
now  remembered)  was  in  the  habit  of  closing  his  even¬ 
ing’s  entertainment  by  offering  to  pull  teeth,  “  without 
pay,  pain,  or  ansesthetics.”  To  inspire  confidence  and 
make  it  a  possible  object,  he  offered  to  give  twenty  dol- 

^  Since  the  manuscript  of  this  paper  was  forwarded  to  the  pub¬ 
lishers  I  have  received  a  letter  from  a  captain  in  the  British  army, 
whose  name  I  do  not  now  feel  at  liberty  to  use,  detailing  an  experi¬ 
ment  which  he  personally  made.  He  knew  nothing,  at  the  time,  of  my 
theories  on  the  subject  beyond  what  he  had  read  in  The  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena,  but  the  result  furnishes  a  striking  illustration  of  the  prin¬ 
ciple  herein  set  forth.  His  wife  had  a  bad  tooth,  and  a  dentist  was 
consulted,  who  informed  her  that,  as  the  nerve  was  bare,  she  would 
not  be  able  to  undergo  the  necessary  operation  without  anaesthetics. 

This  she  refused  to  submit  to,  but  fixed  a  time  for  the  operation. 

When  the  time  came  her  husband  strongly  suggested  to  her  that  she 
would  feel  no  pain,  and  instructed  her  to  l^old  the  aufo'-suggestion  in 
her  own  mind  during  the  operation.  The  result  is  summed  up  in  the 
captain’s  letter  to  me  as  follows:  “Not  only  did  she  not  suffer  the 
slightest  particle  of  pain,  even  when  ,the  dentist  was  working  by 
the  nerve,  but  she  could  not  f4el  the  tooth  being  operated  on.  And 
this  is  what  caused  the  dentist’s  surprise.  I  worked  by  your  plan  of 
suggestion."  ^ 

1.  iliialuifi 


252 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


lars  to  any  one  who  would  submit  to  the  operation  and 
assert  upon  honor  that  any  pain  was  felt.  Two  eye¬ 
witnesses  of  undoubted  probity  have  informed  me  that 
they  saw  several  teeth  drawn  under  those  conditions, 
and  that  each  patient  declared  that  it  was  a  painless 
operation. 

Surgeon-General  Hammond,  in  a  clinical  lecture  de¬ 
livered  at  the  New  York  Post-Graduate  Medical  School 
some  years  ago,  referred  to  a  hysterical  patient  of  his 
who  was  so  absolutely  controllable  by  suggestion  that  a 
hallucination  of  any  kind  could  be  produced  in  her 
waking  condition.  He  adds: 

“  I  could  at  any  time  render  this  patient  insensible  to  pain 
by  simply  telling  her  emphatically  that  all  sense  or  feeling  was 
abolished.  I  once  opened  a  ‘  bone  felon  ’  on  the  index  finger  of 
her  right  hand,  carrying  the  knife  down  to  the  bone  and  incising 
the  periosteum  without  her  being  sensible  of  the  slightest  sensa¬ 
tion,  and  without  her  being  hypnotized  in  the  sense  that  we  give 
to  the  word.  I  merely  told  her  decidedly  that  she  would  feel  no 
pain,  and  she  felt  none.” 

Those  who  have  had  a  “  bone  felon  lanced  will  ad¬ 
mit  that  this  was  a  crucial  test  of  anaesthesia. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection  that  the 
same  law  applies  with  equal,  or  even  greater,  force  to 
obstetrical  cases.  The  writer  has  personal  knowledge 
of  several  cases  of  painless  childbirth  where  the  sug¬ 
gestion  of  anaesthesia  was  given  by  professed  “  mental 
healers.”  If  a  suggestion  in  this  form  is  thus  effective, 
how  much  more  potent  must  be  a  suggestion  made  by 
one  who  is  present  and  reinforced  by  such  auxiliary 
manipulations  as  hypnotists  know  how  to  employ! 

Many  other  cases  might  be  cited,  but  space  forbids. 
The  salient  point  to  be  observed  in  all  these  cases  is 
that  they  are  illustrative  of  a  universal  principle  or  law 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY 


253 


of  nature;  and  that  law  is  that  the  emotion  of  fear  or 
of  dread,  as  of  death,  or  of  a  surgical  operation,  or  of 
imminent  parturition,  will  invariably  throw  the  patient 
into  the  subjective  condition;  and  that,  in  that  condi¬ 
tion,  the  subject  is  constantly  amenable  to  control  by 
suggestion.  This  appears  to  be  a  universal  law,  and  it 
applies  alike  to  animals  as  to  mankind,  modified  by  the 
different  degrees  of  intelligence  and  the  consequent  fa¬ 
cility  for  imparting  a  suggestion.  It  is  well  known  that 
many  animials  can  be  readily  hypnotized  by  seizure  and 
forcible  confinement  for  a  short  time,  as  was  demon¬ 
strated  as  early  as  1646  by  Kircher’s  well-known  ex¬ 
periment  with  a  hen.  Since  then  many  other  animals 
have  been  hypnotized  by  a  similar  means ;  and  in  some 
cases  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  a  perfect  state  of 
analgesia  is  produced.  Thus,  Surgeon-General  Ham¬ 
mond,  whose  reputation  as  an  accurate  scientific  ob¬ 
server  is  international,  has  succeeded  in  hypnotizing 
frogs,  by  seizure,  so  profoundly  that  he  was  enabled  to 
cut  the  animal  open  its  whole  length  without  its  moving, 
or  apparently  experiencing  the  least  sensation.^  Dr. 
Hammond  also  succeeded  in  hypnotizing  crabs  to  the 
extent  of  producing  a  state  of  perfect  analgesia ;  and 
many  other  animals  were  hypnotized  by  him,  both  by 
seizure  and  by  Braid’s  methods.  A  volume  might  be 
filled  with  illustrative  incidents  showing  that  animals 
and  men  are  alike  susceptible  to  hypnotization  by  excit¬ 
ing  the  emotion  of  fear  or  dread.  One  of  the  favorite 
methods  of  inducing  hypnosis,  employed  by  the  late 
Professor  Charcot,  was  by  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
sounding  a  gong  near  the  patient’s  ears ;  or  by  flashing 
a  Drummond  light  in  his  eyes.^ 

1  Nervous  Derangement,  third  edition,  p.  20. 

*  Animal  Magnetism,  Binet  and  Fere. 


254 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


I  cannot  more  appropriately  conclude  this  part  of  my 
theme  than  by  calling  attention  to  the  well-known  facts 
of  the  history  of  the  Christian  martyrs,  and  their  alleged 
immunity  from  pain  while  undergoing  the  most  horrible 
tortures.  The  following  quotation  from  Dr.  Charpi- 
gnon  ^  must  suffice : 

“Among  the  martyrs  of  Christianity  many  escaped  pain 
through  the  ecstasy  which  came  from  the  ardor  of  their  faith,  a 
phenomenon  well  known  to  their  executioners,  who  increased 
their  fury  and  improved  their  inventions  for  punishment.  In  the 
same  way,  at  the  time  of  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisition,  certain 
individuals  became  insensible  under  the  influence  of  their  faith 
in  the  somniferous  virtue  of  some  talisman.  Upon  this  point  I 
will  give  the  following  passage,  an  extract  from  Secrets  tnerveil- 
leux  de  la  ?nagie  naturelle  et  cabalistique  (i2mo,  Lyons,  1629). 
‘  Some  rascals  trusted  so  strongly  in  the  secrets  they  possessed 
to  make  themselves  insensible  to  pain,  that  they  voluntarily  gave 
themselves  up  as  prisoners,  to  cleanse  themselves  of  certain  sins. 
Some  use  certain  words  pronounced  in  a  low  voice,  and  others 
writings  which  they  hide  on  some  part  of  their  body.  The  first 
one  I  recognized  as  using  some  sort  of  charm  surprised  us  by 
his  more  than  natural  firmness,  because  after  the  first  stretching 
of  the  rack,  he  seemed  to  sleep  as  quietly  as  if  he  had  been  in  a 
good  bed,  without  lamenting,  complaining,  or  crying,  and  when 
the  stretching  was  repeated  two  or  three  times,  he  still  remained 
as  motionless  as  a  statue.  This  made  us  suspect  that  he  was 
provided  with  some  charm,  and  to  resolve  the  doubt  he  was 
stripped  as  naked  as  his  hand.  Yet  after  a  careful  search 
nothing  was  found  on  him  but  a  little  piece  of  paper  on  which 
were  the  figures  of  the  three  kings,  with  these  words  on  the 
other  side :  “  Beautiful  star  which  delivered  the  Magi  from 
Herod’s  persecution,  deliver  me  from  all  torment.”  This  paper 
was  stuffed  in  his  left  ear.  Now,  although  the  paper  had  been 
taken  away  from  him,  he  still  appeared  insensible  to  the  torture, 
because  when  it  was  applied  he  muttered  words  between  his 
teeth  which  we  could  not  hear,  and  as  he  persevered  in  his 
denials  it  was  necessary  to  send  him  back  to  prison.’  ” 

It  will  be  obvious  to  the  intelligent  reader  that  the 
emotion  of  fear  induced  the  hypnotic  state,  and  that  the 

^  £tudes  sur  la  viidecine  animique  et  vitalisie. 


HYPNOTISM  IN  SURGERY  255 

talisman  operated  as  a  suggestion  which  produced  a 
state  of  perfect  analgesia. 

That  these  facts  have  some  significance  goes  without 
saying.  That  they  point  to  some  universM  law  of  na¬ 
ture  is  self-evident.  That  that  law,  when  once  dis¬ 
covered,  will  be  found  to  be  for  the  highest  good  of 
mankind  is  a  proposition  sanctioned  by  the  results  of 
every  discovery  yet  made  in  the  realm  of  natural  law. 

Nature  is  ever  kind  to  the  victim  of  the  inevitable. 
The  truth  of  this  proposition  is  exemplified  in  the  uni¬ 
versal  immunity  from  suffering  of  all  animate  creatures 
during  the  process  of  dissolution.  We  have  seen  that 
the  process  by  which  this  immunity  is  secured  is  by  the 
spontaneous  induction  of  the  hypnotic  condition  at  the 
approach  of  death.  We  have  also  seen  that  the  same 
hypnotic  condition  is  spontaneously  induced  when  a 
surgical  operation  becomes  inevitable.  Have  we  not 
a  right  to  infer  that  Nature  has  provided  for  the  same 
immunity  from  suffering  during  a  surgical  operation, 
or  during  parturition,  as  it  has  for  those  who  are  called 
upon  to  undergo  the  process  of  dissolution?  The  con¬ 
ditions  are  the  same ;  but  the  suggestion  has  been  differ¬ 
ent,  owing  to  our  ignorance  of  the  law.  We  have  been 
taught  that  death  “eases  us  of  all  (bodily)  pain” ;  and  it 
does.  The  suggestion  in  that  case  is  on  the  side  of 
immunity ;  and  the  result  is  that,  no  matter  what  form 
death  may  assume,  the  victim  dies  “  without  pain  and 
without  regret.”  On  the  other  hand,  our  daily  ex¬ 
perience  constitutes  a  suggestion  that  cutting  and  muti¬ 
lation  cause  pain.  That  suggestion,  in  the  absence  of 
a  contrary  one,  is  carried  over  into  the  subjective 
condition  which  precedes  and  accompanies  a  surgical 
operation,  and  the  patient  suffers  accordingly.  Again, 
the  curse  pronounced  upon  our  grandmother  Eve  op- 


256 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


crates  as  an  ever-present  suggestion  to  the  mothers 
of  Christendom  that  painful  parturition  is  an  inalien¬ 
able  inheritance ;  whereas,  among  other  races,  this  in¬ 
evitable  crisis  in  every  normal  woman’s  life  is  attended 
with  comparatively  little  pain  or  inconvenience.  Now, 
is  it  not  obvious  that  all  we  have  to  do  in  order  to 
overcome  the  suggestion  conveyed  by  our  ordinary 
normal  experience  is  to  offer  to  the  already  hypno¬ 
tised  patient  a  counter-suggestion  to  the  effect  that  no 
pain  will  be  felt  during  the  operation?  The  patient 
is  in  that  condition  which  renders  all  mankind  amen¬ 
able  to  control  by  suggestion ;  and  the  suggestion  of 
immunity  from  pain  operates  on  the  lines  of  nature’s 
least  resistance. 

One  word  as  to  the  practical  method  of  applying  these 
principles.  It  is  obvious  that,  in  order  to  overcome  the 
suggestion  embraced  in  the  daily  normal  experience  of 
mankind,  the  counter-suggestion  should  be  made  in 
some  way  that  will  strongly  appeal  to  the  imagination 
of  the  patient.  It  should  be  made  strongly,  vigorously, 
positively,  but  with  due  regard  to  the  beliefs,  the  preju¬ 
dices,  and  the  general  idiosyncrasies  of  the  individual. 
As  in  other  cases  where  suggestion  is  employed,  success 
depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  is  enforced.  Hyp¬ 
notists  will  readily  understand  my  meaning,  and  those 
who  are  not  hypnotists  can  readily  acquire  the  neces¬ 
sary  information  by  consulting  any  modern  standard 
work  of  the  Nancy  school.  One  thing,  however,  should 
never  be  lost  sight  of,  and  that  is  the  necessity  of  im¬ 
pressing  upon  the  mind  of  the  patient  the  fact  that  a 
profound  hypnotic  sleep  is  not  an  essential  prerequisite 
to  the  successful  employment  of  hypnotism  as  an  aiv- 
cesthetic  in  surgery. 


XI 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM 

There  are  two  danger  lines  in  hypnotism. 
One  pertains  to  the  moral  well-being  of  the 
subject,  and  the  other  to  his  physical  and 
mental  health. 

Two  questions  are  thus  presented  for  consideration. 
The  first  is,  how  far  and  under  what  conditions  may 
hypnotism  be  employed  for  the  promotion  of  vice,  im¬ 
morality,  and  crime?  And  the  second  is,  under  what 
conditions  may  hypnotism  become  a  source  of  danger  to 
the  physical  and  mental  health  of  the  subject? 

The  first  of  these  questions  has  been  so  thoroughly 
discussed  of  late,  under  the  title  of  Hypnotism  and 
Crime,  that  there  is  little  to  be  said  that  would  be  new 
to  the  reader.  Indeed,  so  persistently  has  this  question 
been  discussed,  and  so  ably  has  it  been  obscured  by  the 
newspaper  press,  that  the  public  is  fast  settling  down 
into  the  belief  that  two  monstrous  entities  have  recently 
sprung  into  existence,  formed  a  copartnership,  and  are 
now  engaged  in  a  diabolical  business  under  the  firm 
name  and  style  of  Hypnotism  and  Crime.  I  will  not 
attempt  to  disabuse  the  public  mind  of  the  favorite  idea, 
but  will  content  myself  with  pointing  out  to  the  profes¬ 
sional  reader  the  principal  source  of  error  which  besets 
those  who  hold  that  the  two,  if  not  necessarily  insepa- 

17 


258 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Table,  belong  to  the  same  category  of  offences  against 
the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  state. 

The  truth  is  that  the  whole  difficulty  arises  from  the 
inability  of  a  certain  class  of  persons  to  take  more  than 
one  step  in  the  process  of  reasoning.  Thus,  when  such 
reasoners  have  once  been  able  to  master  the  broad  idea 
that  “the  hypnotized  subject  is  constantly  amenable  to 
control  by  the  power  of  suggestion,”  they  at  once  jump 
to  the  conclusion  that  said  subject,  in  the  hands  of  the 
hypnotist,  is  as  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter ;  that  he 
is  a  mere  automaton,  without  volition  of  his  own;  that 
he  has  surrendered  his  personality  and  his  will  to  the 
keeping  of  the  operator,  and  is,  consequently,  irresistibly 
compelled  to  obey  the  slightest  injunction  of  his  custo¬ 
dian,  even  to  the  extent  of  perpetrating  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors.  Such  reasoners,  when  informed  that 
gravitation  is  a  universal  force,  and  that  the  sun  attracts 
the  earth,  would  affirm,  with  equal  confidence  and 
reason,  that  the  latter  must  inevitably  plunge  into  the 
former  and  be  consumed.  They  would  forget,  or  be 
unable  to  comprehend,  the  further  fact  that  other  planets 
attract  the  earth,  and  thus,  by  virtue  of  the  universality 
of  the  law  of  gravitation,  counter  forces  exert  their  ever¬ 
present  influence  upon  the  earth  and  upon  the  whole 
planetary  system,  in  such  a  way  as  forever  to  prevent 
the  anticipated  “  wreck  of  matter  and  crush  of  worlds.” 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  persons,  the  hypnotic 
subject  is  hedged  about  and  protected  by  counter  forces 
that  operate  to  preserve  his  moral  equilibrium  in  ways 
that  are  as  nearly  analogous  to  those  I  have  used  as  an 
illustration  as  a  moral  force  can  be  to  a  physical  force. 
In  other  words,  the  suggestions  of  the  operator  to  the 
hypnotized  subject  may  be,  and  are,  constantly  counter- 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  259 

balanced  by  other  suggestions.  This  is  a  fact  which  the 
average  student  of  theoretical  hypnotism  is  slow  to 
learn ;  and  yet  it  is  the  most  important  fact  in  the  whole 
science.  These  counter-suggestions,  as  I  have  pointed 
out  elsewhere,^  may  arise  from  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  education,  experience,  religion,  principles 
of  moral  rectitude,  or  even  from  a  sense  of  personal 
dignity.  These  I  have  classified  under  the  term  “  auto¬ 
suggestions.” 

I  do  not  undertake  to  say  that  suggestions  arising 
from  either  one  of  the  sources  named,  or  from  all  of 
them  combined,  would  in  all  cases  afford  protection  to 
a  hypnotized  subject  against  suggestions  of  a  criminal 
character.  In  other  words,  I  do  not  deny  the  propo¬ 
sition  that  it  is  possible,  under  certain  conditions,  for  a 
hypnotized  subject  to  be  induced  by  a  criminal  hypnotist 
to  commit  a  crime ;  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  does 
deny  it. 

This  being  conceded,  it  becomes  important  to  locate 
the  danger  line,  or  rather  the  line  of  safety,  —  the  line 
beyond  which  neither  an  immoral  nor  a  criminal  sugges¬ 
tion  can  ever  prevail. 

That  line  is  clearly  defined  by  Conscience,  —  that 
sleepless  sentinel  on  the  watchtower  of  the  human  soul, 
which  guards  and  protects  each  one  who  is  endowed 
with  that  faculty  from  the  assaults  of  sin  and  shame. 

By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  quality  of  “  conscience  ” 
which  “  makes  cowards  of  us  all,”  which  consists  of,  or 
is  manifested  in,  fear  of  the  consequences  of  wrong¬ 
doing.  By  “  conscience  ”  I  mean  “  that  power  or  faculty 
in  man,”  whether  it  be  connate  with  him  or  the  result  of 
moral  education  or  training,  “  by  which  he  distinguishes 
^  See  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena, 


26o 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


between  right  and  wrong  in  conduct  and  character,  and 
which  imperatively  commands  and  obligates  him  to  do 
the  right  and  abstain  from  doing  the  wrong.”  ^ 

It  is  obvious  that,  given  a  criminal  hypnotist  and  a 
weak  and  criminal  subject,  no  one  of  the  other  sources 
of  auto-suggestion  which  I  have  named  would  of  ne¬ 
cessity  protect  the  latter  against  the  determined  and 
persistent  oral  suggestions  of  the  former.  Thus  the 
“  instinct  of  self-preservation,”  which  is  ordinarily  the 
source  of  one  of  the  strongest  auto-suggestions,  is  not 
always  adequate,  since  it  is  well  known  that  men,  in  an 
apparently  normal  condition,  often  place  themselves  in 
imminent  and  deadly  peril  in  pursuit  of  a  criminal 
object.  “Education  and  experience”  are  plainly  in¬ 
adequate,  for  it  is  well  known  that  many  of  the  most 
notorious  criminals  have  not  been  lacking  in  these  ad¬ 
vantages.  “  Religion,”  per  se,  is  notoriously  inadequate 
as  a  means  of  protection,  since  it  is  well  known  that  the 
brigands  of  Italy  are  as  devout  as  they  are  devilish. 
“  A  sense  of  personal  dignity  ”  constitutes  a  strong 
auto-suggestion  against  doing  that  which  would  excite 
ridicule;  but  obviously  it  would  only  operate  indirectly 
against  criminal  suggestion.  “  Principles  of  moral  rec¬ 
titude,”  however,  stand  upon  a  somewhat  different  foot¬ 
ing,  inasmuch  as  they  are,  if  genuine,  but  another  name 
for  conscience.  But  unfortunately  there  are  many  men 
who  are  imbued  with  “  principles  of  moral  rectitude  ” 
“  for  revenue  only  ” ;  who  are  honest  only  because 
honesty  is  the  best  policy ;  who  take  the  law  for 
their  guide  in  all  business  transactions.  Such  men  are 
seldom  either  truly  honest  men  or  good  citizens.  Plainly 
their  “  principles,”  although  they  may  constitute  the  best 


1  Standard  Dictionary. 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  26 1 

available  substitute  for  a  conscience,  would  of  them¬ 
selves  furnish  no  adequate  or  certain  protection  against 
criminal  suggestion. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  auto-suggestions  arising  from  the  sources  named 
would  afford  no  protection  against  the  suggestions  of 
a  criminal  hypnotist.  I  merely  say  that  they  may  not 
afford  adequate  protection  in  the  absence  of  conscience. 
That  each  constitutes  a  powerful  bulwark  against  the 
assaults  of  a  criminal  hypnotist,  I  most  unhesitatingly 
affirm.  They  are  constantly  alert,  jointly  and  severally, 
for  the  protection  of  the  individual ;  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  in  the  absence  of  conscience,  being  always 
the  dominating  factor.  But  when  a  man  has  risen  in 
the  scale  of  humanity  and  civilization  to  the  dignity 
of  being  in  possession  of  that  power  or  faculty  which 
“  imperatively  commands  and  obligates  him  to  do  the 
right  and  abstain  from  doing  the  wrong,”  he  is  in¬ 
trenched  within  a  citadel  against  which  no  power  of 
criminal  suggestion  can  prevail. 

The  simple  rule  is  that  when  two  opposing  sugges¬ 
tions  are  presented  to  the  subjective  mind  of  a  hypno¬ 
tized  subject,  the  stronger  must  prevail.  This  is  a  rule 
which  admits  of  no  exception  or  variation.  It  follows 
that  when  the  plea  is  offered  in  a  court  of  justice,  in 
extenuation  of  a  criminal  or  immoral  act,  that  the 
subject  was  coerced  by  criminal  suggestion,  it  amounts 
to  a  general  confession  that  his  immoral  or  criminal 
desire  is  stronger  than  all  other  considerations  com¬ 
bined  ;  and  it  amounts  to  a  specific  proclamation  of  the 
fact  that  the  alleged  victim  is  devoid  of  conscientious 
scruples  regarding  the  particular  crime  which  he  has 
committed. 


262  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

From  the  nature  of  things  it  can  never  be  specifically 
known  how  many,  or  what  character  of  adverse  auto¬ 
suggestions  may  have  been  overcome  by  a  successful 
criminal  suggestion ;  but  one  thing  is  always  certain, 
and  that  is  that  in  reference  to  the  particular  crime,  the 
guilty  subject  is  devoid  of  conscientious  scruples. 

Conscience  not  only  marks  the  line  between  the 
realms  of  danger  and  safety  in  the  hypnotized  subject, 
but  it  also  defines  the  limit  of  control  which  the  objec¬ 
tive  mind  normally  exercises  over  the  subjective  mind. 
That  is  to  say,  in  the  normal  man  the  objective  intellect 
exercises  supreme  control  over  the  dual  mental  organ¬ 
ism,  up  to  a  certain  limit.  That  limit,  again,  is  defined 
by  conscience.  When,  in  the  progress  of  mental  and 
moral  evolution,  man  reaches  that  stage  of  development 
—  that  moral  altitude  —  where  conscience  becomes  an 
attribute  of  the  soul,  the  love  of  the  right  and  hatred 
of  the  wrong  become  an  emotion  of  such  supreme  po¬ 
tentiality  that  nothing,  not  even  the  love  of  life,  nor  the 
fear  of  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisition,  can  prevail  against 
it.  This  emotion,  of  course,  varies  in  strength  and  in¬ 
tensity  with  each  individual,  in  accordance  with  his 
education  and  moral  development;  and  it  may  be  per¬ 
verted,  even  to  the  extent  of  causing  insanity.  The 
point  is  that  it  is  an  emotion,  and  therefore  belongs  to 
the  subjective  mind;  and  in  the  normal  man,  whose 
environm.ent  has  been  favorable,  and  whose  training 
and  education  have  been  along  the  lines  of  truth  and 
right,  and  in  harmony  with  reason,  this  emotion  becomes 
the  dominant  characteristic  of  his  mental  organism.  It 
is  then  that  the  subjective  mind,  rightfully  and  normally, 
assumes  the  ascendancy,  conscience  becomes  instinctive, 
the  perception  of  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  263 

wrong  becomes  intuitive ;  and  the  immortal  part  of  man, 
drawing  inspiration  from  the  Eternal  Source  of  Truth 
and  Right,  becomes  an  “  inward  monitor  ”  whose  sleep¬ 
less  vigilance  guards  and  protects  him  and  repels  every 
assault  upon  the  integrity  of  his  character. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact,  as  I  have  before  in¬ 
timated,  that  conscience,  like  every  other  human  emotion 
or  faculty,  may  be  perverted,  and  its  forces  expended  in 
wrong  directions.  Witness  the  great  army  of  cranks 
who  infest  every  civilized  community.  No  more  con¬ 
scientious  men  or  women  exist  than  they  whose  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  “  reform  ”  has  led  them  into  the  belief 
that  whatever  is,  is  wrong.  Many  of  them,  had  they  the 
power,  would  crucify,  or  exterminate  with  fire  and 
sword,  all  who  differ  with  them  in  opinion.  No  nobler 
or  purer  race  existed  in  their  day  and  generation  than 
those  of  whom  history  records  the  fact  that  they  would 
suffer  martyrdom  or  expatriation  for  conscience’  sake, 
but  who,  in  turn,  would  apply  the  fagot  and  the  torch  to 
those  whose  views  were  not  in  harmony  with  their  own. 

I  need  not  dwell  upon  this  branch  of  the  subject,  how¬ 
ever,  for  it  does  not  pertain  directly  to  the  question 
under  consideration.  It  is  mentioned  here,  first,  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  that  the  noblest  attribute  of  civil¬ 
ized  man  may  be  perverted  by  an  unfortunate  environ¬ 
ment  or  the  suggestions  embraced  in  a  false  education ; 
and,  second,  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  in  a  stronger 
light  the  fact  that  conscience,  when  once  aroused,  is  the 
dominating  force  in  the  whole  character  of  man.  The 
fact  that  it  may  be  perverted,  however,  does  not  militate 
against  or  modify  the  proposition  I  have  advanced ;  for 
it  does  not  follow  that  because  a  man  would  wish  to  see 
exterminated  all  whose  views  on  social  or  religious 


264  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

questions  do  not  accord  with  his,  he  would  commit  a 
private  murder,  rape,  or  arson  in  obedience  to  hypnotic 
suggestion,  or  of  his  own  volition.  Only  those  whose 
perversions  have  reached  the  stage  of  insanity  could  be 
thus  influenced. 

The  proposition,  therefore,  still  holds  good  that  the 
auto-suggestions  embraced  in  conscientious  scruples 
against  the  commission  of  immoral  or  criminal  acts  are 
more  potent  than  any  possible  suggestion  of  a  criminal 
character. 

The  next  question  is,  under  what  conditions  may  hyp¬ 
notism  become  a  source  of  danger  to  physical  and  mental 
health  ? 

Students  of  theoretical  hypnotism  are  about  equally 
divided  into  two  classes,  namely :  i,  those  who  hold  that 
hypnotism  can  never  be  otherwise  than  beneficial  to  the 
subject;  and,  2,  those  who  can  see  untold  evils  environ¬ 
ing  a  hypnotized  person  and  threatening  him  with  ner¬ 
vous  wreck  and  imbecility.  As  usual,  the  truth  lies 
somewhere  about  half  way  between  the  two  extremes. 

Hypnotism  may  become  an  unmitigated  evil  to  the 
subject,  or  it  m.ay  result  in  unqualified  benefit  to  him. 
Between  the  two  extremes  there  are  all  grades  and 
degrees  of  good  results,  as  well  as  of  evil,  to  the  hyp¬ 
notic  subject. 

This  being  true,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  all 
concerned  to  locate  the  danger  line ;  for  obviously  there 
must  be  some  broad,  fundamental  principle  underlying 
the  subject  matter  which  has  not  yet  been  discovered  or 
definitely  formulated,  and  which  will  account  for  the 
wide  range  of  difference  of  opinion  among  experts 
of  apparently  equal  skill  and  capacity  for  correct 
observation. 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  26$ 

It  is  true  that  in  this  connection  we  often  hear  hyp¬ 
notists  speak  of  degrees  of  skill  in  the  induction  of 
hypnosis ;  and  we  infer  from  their  observations  that 
they  regard  skill  in  that  line  as  the  essential  element  of 
success  in  the  production  of  good  results ;  but,  whilst 
the  importance  of  skill  and  experience  is  not  to  be  under¬ 
rated,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  often  the  most  skilful 
and  experienced  hypnotist  will  leave  his  subject  a  ner¬ 
vous  wreck.  I  admit  that  this  is  rare,  but  it  is  possible, 
nevertheless.  It  is  not,  therefore,  skill  alone  that  defines 
the  danger  line. 

I  have  not  space,  however,  to  discuss  the  various 
theories  which  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  the 
fact  under  consideration ;  but  will  proceed  to  suggest, 
tentatively,  a  hypothesis  which  may  throw  some  light 
upon  the  subject  and  induce  others  to  consider  the  facts, 
experimentally,  from  that  standpoint. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  chief  difficulty  arises  from  not 
fully  comprehending  the  true  import  of  the  law  of  sug¬ 
gestion.  Like  every  other  law  of  nature,  it  is  simple ; 
but  that  quality  lies  largely  in  the  simplicity  of  the  terms 
in  which  it  can  be  formulated.  The  law  itself  embraces 
many  complications,  which,  if  left  out  of  consideration 
in  any  given  case,  will  involve  the  student  in  a  maze 
of  apparent  contradictions. 

The  subjective  mind,  while  it  is  always  amenable  to 
control  by  the  power  of  suggestion,  and  while  it  often 
accepts  a  false  suggestion  with  the  same  readiness  with 
which  it  accepts  a  true  one,  is,  nevertheless,  normally 
a  lover  of  truth.  It  may  be,  and  often  is,  perverted  in 
the  extreme  by  a  lifelong  series  of  false  suggestions ; 
but  normally  it  loves  the  truth,  and  it  has,  moreover,  an 
intuitive  perception  of  truth  when  it  is  presented. 


266 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Now,  there  is  no  fact  better  known  to  hypnotists  than 
that  when  two  antagonistic  suggestions  are  made  to  a 
hypnotized  subject,  even  though  the  subject  matter  of 
the  suggestions  may  be  of  trivial  character,  it  invariably 
produces  the  most  unmistakable  mental  distress ;  and, 
if  the  suggestions  are  persisted  in,  the  subject  often 
awakens  to  normal  consciousness  suffering  from  a 
severe  nervous  shock.  Reverting  again  to  the  subject 
of  hypnotism  and  crime,  it  is  well  known  to  hypnotists 
that  a  criminal  suggestion,  acting  upon  the  principle 
mentioned  above,  will  often  awaken  a  subject;  and  when 
this  occurs,  it  is  invariably  accompanied  by  a  violent 
shock  to  the  nervous  system.  Dr.  Cocke,  of  Boston, 
reports  a  laboratory  case  in  which  a  criminal  sugges¬ 
tion  threw  the  subject  into  a  violent  fit  of  hysterics.^ 
I  have  myself  seen  a  subject  thrown  into  a  state  of 
hystero-catalepsy  by  a  persistent  suggestion  (insisted 
upon  at  the  instance  of  a  fool)  that  she  perform  an 
act  which,  in  her  normal  condition,  she  regarded  as 
sacrilegious. 

Every  one  who  has  witnessed  even  the  common  stage 
experiments  knows  how  vigorously,  at  first,  a  sugges¬ 
tion  will  be  resisted  when  it  is  contrary  to  an  obvious 
and  well-known  fact.  For  instance,  a  suggestion  that 
the  subject  is  some  one  else  will  be  instantaneously  re¬ 
sisted,  and  sometimes  with  stubborn  persistence  for  a 
short  period,  the  strength  of  the  resistance  varying  with 
the  character  of  the  personality  suggested.  But,  when 
conscience,  or  some  other  powerful  adverse  motive  is 
not  involved,  if  the  suggestion  is  strongly  enforced  the 
subject  will  yield  to  it  and  carry  it  to  its  legitimate 

1  Hypnotism  (Arena  Pub.  Co.).  See  article,  Hypnotism  in  its  Rela¬ 
tions  to  Criminal Jurisprudence. 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  267 

conclusion  with  marvellous  fidelity  to  the  logic  of  the 
situation. 

Again,  common  observation  will  bear  me  out  in  the 
assertion  that  subjects  who  have  been  long  and  con¬ 
tinuously  employed  on  the  stage  for  the  purposes  of  ex¬ 
hibition  invariably  become  nervous  wrecks,  especially  if 
skilful  care  has  not  been  persistently  exercised  in  re¬ 
storing  the  normal  tone  to  their  nervous  organizations. 
It  is,  indeed,  with  this  class  of  subjects  that  the  evils  of 
hypnotism  have  been  made  manifest  to  the  general  pub¬ 
lic  as  well  as  to  professional  observers.  In  this  class 
I  mean  to  include  all  subjects  who  have  been  continu¬ 
ously  used  for  purposes  of  amusement,  whether  on 
the  public  stage  or  in  the  private  drawing-room.  The 
“  amusement  ”  which  hypnotism  affords  is  necessarily 
due  to  the  antics  which  the  subject  performs  in  response 
to  false  or  ridiculous  suggestions,  and  these  are  often 
of  a  painful  character.  The  depth  of  the  injury  inflicted 
upon  the  mind  of  the  subject  is  measured  partly  by  the 
character  of  the  suggestions,  and  partly  by  the  frequency 
and  suddenness  of  the  changes  from  one  false  sugges¬ 
tion  to  another  of  an  opposite  character ;  and  it  is  true, 
unfortunately,  that  many  stage  hypnotists,  ignorant  of 
the  principle  involved,  and  anxious  to  amuse  their  audi¬ 
ences  and  to  demonstrate  the  potency  of  suggestion, 
inflict  incalculable  injury  upon  their  subjects  by  sud¬ 
denly  and  frequently  changing  the  character  of  their 
suggestions  from  one  extreme  to  another.  It  may  be 
amusing,  and  possibly  instructive,  but  the  subject  is  a 
martyr  to  the  cause  of  popular  education  in  hypnotism. 
Of  course  the  evil  can  be  minimized  by  making  easy 
and  natural  transitions  from  one  hallucination  to  an¬ 
other;  but  the  average  stage  hypnotist  is  either  igno- 


268 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


rant  of  the  principle  involved,  or  is  careless  of  the 
well-being  of  his  subjects. 

And  it  may  be  remarked  here  that  much  of  the  popu¬ 
lar  prejudice  against  hypnotism  arises  from  witnessing 
such  performances.  All  that  the  public  is  permitted  to 
see  is  a  crowd  of  subjects,  usually  of  limited  intelli¬ 
gence  and  vain  and  egotistic  to  the  last  degree,  put 
through  a  series  of  antics,  sometimes  amusing,  often 
painful,  and  occasionally  disgusting;  and  the  popular 
conclusion  is  that  what  they  have  witnessed  is  the  sum 
total  of  hypnotism.  The  more  thoughtful  spectator  of 
average  intelligence  will  inevitably  come  to  two  con¬ 
clusions.  One  is  that  if  such  performances  are  neces¬ 
sary  in  order  to  avail  oneself  of  the  benefits  of  hypnotism, 
he  wants  none  of  it.  The  other  is  that  if  suggestion 
is  such  a  powerful  agent  as  to  cause  a  subject  to  lose 
his  identity,  forget  his  name,  or  imagine  himself  to 
be  a  dog,  with  all  that  the  name  implies,  he  can  just  as 
easily  be  persuaded  to  slaughter  his  grandmother.  In 
any  event  he  is  sure  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
dangers  of  hypnotism  are  very  prominently  exemplified 
by  such  practices.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proposition 
that  hypnotism,  or  its  chief  handmaiden,  suggestion, 
has  proved  to  be  an  unalloyed  blessing  to  millions  of  the  ‘ 
human  race,  cannot  be  successfully  controverted.  No 
intelligent  observer  who  has  made  an  honest  and  un¬ 
prejudiced  investigation  of  the  subject  will  deny  its 
value  as  a  therapeutic  agent  or  gainsay  the  fact  that  it 
has  been  the  means  of  restoration  to  health  of  untold 
numbers  of  otherwise  incurable  sufferers  from  physical 
and  mental  maladies.  Its  value  as  an  anaesthetic  in 
surgery  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  profession  in 
many  notable  instances;  and  it  is  thought,  as  I  have 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  269 

pointed  out  elsewhere,  that  when  its  laws  are  better 
understood,  it  will  be  found  to  be  an  agent  of  universal 
application  for  the  inhibition  of  pain  in  surgical  opera¬ 
tions.  Its  value  as  a  means  for  the  eradication  of 
habits  of  drunkenness,  as  well  as  of  many  other  habits 
equally  destructive  to  health  and  reason,  no  one  who 
has  given  the  slightest  attention  to  the  subject  will 
seriously  question.  Its  availability  as  an  auxiliary  to 
the  usual  processes  of  education  is  rapidly  becoming 
known  throughout  the  world ;  and  so  is  its  value  as  a 
means  of  training  children  to  correct  habits  of  mind 
and  body,  and,  above  all,  of  eradicating  from  the  human 
mind  the  tendency  to  immorality,  vice,  and  crime. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  from  those  who  have  em¬ 
ployed  hypnotism  or  hypnotic  suggestion  for  the  benefi¬ 
cent  purposes  I  have  just  named,  and  for  those  purposes 
only,  we  hear  no  complaint  of  the  evil  effects  of  that 
agent. 

It  will  be  apparent  to  the  intelligent  reader  by  this 
time,  that  the  dividing  line  between  the  realms  of 
danger  and  of  safety  in  hypnotism  is  clearly  defined  by 
Truth. 

Truth  follows  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance  in 
the  intellectual  realm,  as  the  physical  forces  of  nature 
do  in  the  material  world ;  for  the  universe  is  the  em¬ 
bodiment  of  truth,  and  hence  every  truth  is  consistent 
and  in  harmony  with  every  other.  Falsehood,  on  the 
other  hand,  follows  the  lines  of  greatest  resistance,  for 
it  is  in  harmony  with  nothing ;  and  it  finds  its  strongest 
antagonism  in  that  innate  love  of  verity  which  is  in¬ 
herent  in  the  unperverted  human  soul. 

And  so  it  happens  that  when  therapeutic  suggestions 
are  made,  they  find  a  ready  acceptance;  for  health  is 


270  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

normal  and  disease  is  abnormal.  The  same  is  true  of 
every  suggestion  in  harmony  with,  and  in  promotion 
of,  the  well-being  of  the  normal  subjects,  morally, 
intellectually,  or  physically. 

The  only  question,  then,  which  remains  for  consider¬ 
ation  in  this  immediate  connection  is  whether  hypnotic 
sleep,  per  se,  produces  any  deleterious  effect  upon  the 
human  system.  The  obvious  answer  is  that  inasmuch 
as  hypnotic  sleep,  undisturbed  by  unpleasant  hallucina¬ 
tions  arising  from  false  suggestions,  is  identical  with 
natural  sleep,  it  follows  that  the  hypnotized  subject  is 
in  no  more  danger  of  untoward  results  than  is  the  man 
who  “  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch  about  him  and 
lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams.”  Moreover,  the  recuper¬ 
ative  effects  are  the  same  as  in  natural  sleep,  though 
ordinarily  greater  in  degree,  for  the  reason  that  hyp¬ 
notic  sleep  is  usually  accompanied  by  therapeutic 
suggestions. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  the  method  of  inducing  the  con¬ 
dition  that  constitutes  the  essential  difference  between 
natural  and  hypnotic  sleep.  That  difference  is  wholly 
due  to  the  suggestions  which  accompany  it.  Hypnotic 
sleep,  unaccompanied  by  suggestions  as  to  its  duration 
or  object,  merges  into  natural  sleep  so  perfectly  that  the 
closest  observer  cannot  detect  the  time  when  the  tran¬ 
sition  occurs.  When  it  is  attended  by  therapeutic  sug¬ 
gestions,  or  others  of  a  pleasant  character  and  in 
harmony  with  truth,  the  result  is  always  beneficent,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  no  antagonism  is  provoked. 

A  false  suggestion,  on  the  other  hand,  invariably  pro¬ 
duces  a  nervous  shock  of  greater  or  less  intensity  in 
proportion  to  its  character,  and  the  consequent  amount 
of  resistance  it  encounters.  This  occurs  on  precisely  the 


THE  DANGER  LINES  IN  HYPNOTISM  2/1 

same  principle  and  for  the  same  reason  that  a  criminal 
suggestion  will  produce  that  result.  A  criminal  sugges¬ 
tion  provokes  an  antagonistic  auto-suggestion  of  an 
intensity  proportioned  to  the  subject’s  character  for 
moral  rectitude.  A  false  suggestion,  in  like  manner, 
provokes  an  adverse  auto-suggestion  of  varying  inten¬ 
sity  proportioned  to  the  subject’s  education,  experience, 
and  inherent  love  of  truth.  In  either  case  a  shock,  of 
greater  or  less  severity,  is  produced.  The  shock  may 
be  light,  and  doubtless  is,  in  many  cases,  especially  in 
stage  exhibitions ;  but  the  effects  are  cumulative,  and 
when  a  series  of  such  experiences  is  long  continued 
there  can  be  but  one  result,  —  a  shattered  nervous 
organization. 

From  the  foregoing  facts  four  very  important  conclu¬ 
sions  are  inevitable : 

1.  That  the  hypnotized  subject  is  not  the  unresisting 
automaton  that  has  been  pictured  by  popular  imagina¬ 
tion  ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  he  is  hedged  about  and  pro¬ 
tected  from  evil  influences  in  exact  proportion  to  his 
deserts,  and  that  if  crime  is  ever  a  possible  result  of 
hypnotic  suggestion,  it  is  only  so  with  those  who,  in 
their  normal  state,  could  be  more  easily  influenced  to 
commit  a  crime  than  they  could  in  a  condition  of 
hypnosis. 

2.  That  all  the  manifold  benefits  of  hypnotism  can  be 
obtained  by  perfectly  normal  means,  without  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  producing  an  unpleasant  hallucination  with  its 
consequent  shock  to  the  nervous  system,  by  simple  ad¬ 
herence  to  truth  when  making  a  suggestion  for  any 
beneficent  purpose  whatever. 

3.  That  the  laws  of  hypnotism  constitute  no  excep¬ 
tion  to  the  rule  that  the  forces  of  nature,  when  once 


272  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

understood  and  intelligently  utilized,  are  always  promo¬ 
tive  of  the  highest  good  to  mankind. 

4.  That  hypnotism  is  no  exception  to  the  rule  that 
in  all  the  relations  of  life  the  boundary  lines  between  the 
realms  of  good  and  evil,  between  danger  and  safety,  are 
clearly  defined  by  conscience  and  truth. 


XII 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 

IT  is  axiomatic  that  any  belief  which  is  alleged  to 
be  founded  upon  observable  phenomena  is  entitled 
to  respectful  consideration  and  scientific  examina¬ 
tion.  I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  “  Christian  Sci¬ 
ence,”  so  called,  has  abundantly  demonstrated  its  right 
to  both.  Its  votaries,  claiming  divine  power,  have 
healed  the  sick  by  hundreds  of  thousands ;  yet  they 
have  been  recognized  by  the  medical  profession  only  by 
bitter  denunciation.  Claiming  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with,  and  often  verbal  inspiration  from,  the  Divine 
Father,  they  have  poured  the  balm  of  religious  conso¬ 
lation  into  many  a  stricken  heart,  only  to  be  repaid  from 
the  pulpit  by  solemn  objurgations  and  strenuous  an¬ 
athemas.  They  have  gone  into  the  highways  and  by¬ 
ways,  and  proclaimed  their  divine  mission  from  the 
housetops,  only  to  be  answered  by  the  jeers  and  ridicule 
of  the  ungodly.  And,  notwithstanding  their  solemn 
asseverations  that  they  teach  the  only  science  worth 
knowing.  Science  itself  has  assumed  a  lofty  mien  and 
passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

Perhaps  it  was  natural  for  the  medical  profession  to 
indulge  in  a  noble  rage,  owing  to  its  cautious  conser¬ 
vatism, —  that  is  to  say,  its  ancient  prejudice  against 
everything  new  that  claims  to  heal  the  sick.  The  clergy 
must  be  expected  to  indulge  in  hostile  criticism,  because 

i8 


274  "THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

the  Christianity  of  Christian  Science  is  so  very  different 
from  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  As  to  the  unseemly 
levity  of  the  irreverent  laity,  —  its  tendency  to  laugh  at 
what,  to  its  uncultured  mind,  seems  ridiculous,  —  it  is 
too  well  known  to  require  comment  or  serious  animad¬ 
version.  But  the  attitude  of  Science  is  indefensible. 
It  has  no  right  to  ignore  facts,  to  indulge  in  prejudices, 
or  to  neglect  to  explain  phenomena  of  such  obvious 
importance  as  that  which  lends  to  Christian  Science  its 
air  of  supernatural  mystery,  and  invests  it  with  socio¬ 
logical,  as  well  as  pathological,  importance. 

The  most  that  I  can  do  within  the  space  at  my  com¬ 
mand  is  to  outline  the  salient  psychopathic  features  of 
the  phenomena,  and  to  suggest  thereby  the  proper  line 
of  scientific  examination,  relegating  to  the  professional 
alienist  the  exhaustive  study  of  that  which  is  so  ob¬ 
viously  within  his  domain. 

The  subject  naturally  arranges  itself  under  two  heads, 
namely :  ( i )  the  psychopathic  condition  of  the  founder 
of  the  sect;  and  (2)  the  psychopathic  condition  of  her 
followers. 

To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  new  psychology  it  is  obvious  that  the 
founder  of  the  sect  known  as  “  Christian  Scientists  ”  is 
an  object  of  commiseration  rather  than  of  denunciation. 
She  is  simply  a  victim  of  self-delusion,  arising  from  an 
ignorance  of  the  fundamental  law  of  psychic  activity. 
The  law  is  briefly  this : 

Man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mind,  or  two  states  of 
consciousness.  For  convenience  of  treatment  they  have 
been  designated,  one  as  the  objective,  and  the  other  as 
the  subjective  mind.  The  former  is  the  mind  of  ordi¬ 
nary  waking  consciousness.  The  latter  is  the  intelligence 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY  2/$ 

which  is  manifested  in  dreams,  trance,  or  trance-like 
conditions,  when  the  objective  mind  is  inhibited,  as 
in  sleep,  or  in  somnambulism,  spontaneous  or  induced. 
The  salient  feature  of  differentiation  which  bears  upon 
the  case  under  consideration  is  that  the  objective  mind 
is  capable  of  independently  conducting  the  process  of 
inductive  reasoning;  whereas  the  subjective  mind  is 
devoid  of  that  power.  That  intelligence  is  dominated 
by  the  law  of  suggestion.  In  other  words,  it  takes  its 
premises  from  an  extraneous  source ;  and  it  reasons 
deductively  from  those  premises  or  suggestions.  The 
latter  may  be  conveyed  to  the  subjective  mind  in  many 
ways,  prominent  among  which  are  the  words  or  affir¬ 
mations  of  another,  as  in  hypnotism ;  or  they  may  be 
imparted  by  means  of  the  ordinary  processes  of  educa¬ 
tion,  as  in  training  children;  or  the  objective  mind  of 
an  individual  may  convey  dominating  suggestions  to 
his  own  subjective  mind.  These  are  called  “  auto-sug¬ 
gestions.”  If  truthful,  they  are  beneficent.  If  false, 
they  may  result  in  insanity,  as  in  monomania.  Any 
form  of  false  suggestion,  indeed,  may  result  in  insanity, 
if  it  is  persistently  dwelt  upon  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
countervailing  suggestions  of  truth.  When  this  occurs, 
the  subjective  mind  is  in  control;  that  is,  it  dominates 
for  the  time  being  the  dual  m.ental  organism,  truth  is 
subordinated,  and  reason  is  dethroned. 

The  salient  characteristic,  however,  of  the  subjective 
mind  which  bears  directly  upon  the  case  in  hand,  is  its 
prodigious  faculty  for  reasoning  deductively  from  given 
premises  to  legitimate  conclusions.  It  is  akin  to  intui¬ 
tion,  and  it  is  always  the  concomitant  of  the  latter  fac¬ 
ulty.  Its  manifestations,  indeed,  are  often  confounded 
with  intuition ;  and  it  is  this  circumstance  that  gives 
rise  to  so  many  claims  for  the  superior  “  intuitions  ” 


2/6  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

of  women.  But  their  so-called  intuitions,  when  an¬ 
alyzed,  aie  often  found  to  be  mere  deductions  from 
premises  that  may  or  may  not  be  true.  The  point  is 
that  the  deductions  of  the  subjective  mind  are  always 
legitimate  and  logical,  whether  the  premises  are  true 
or  false.  If  true,  the  result  is  often  a  work  of  genius. 
But  if  the  premise  is  false,  the  work  soon  reveals  the 
fact ,  for  truth  cannot  be  evolved  from  a  falsehood,  if 
the  deductions  are  legitimate.  That  is  to  say,  a  false 
premise  carried  to  its  legitimate  conclusion  always  ends 
in  an  absurdity.  If  the  author  is  mentally  balanced, 
he  will  detect  the  absurdity  himself  and  abandon  the 
premise  as  untenable;  especially  if  he  is  well  endowed 
with  that  indispensable  quality  of  a  well-balanced  mind 
—  a  fine  appreciation  of  humor  —  a  keen  sense  of  the 
ridiculous. 

Unfortunately  for  the  poor  psychic  whose  subjective 
mind  is  in  control,  and  who  is  dominated  by  a  false  sug¬ 
gestion,  he  has  no  sense  of  humor,  and  is  intellectually 
impervious  to  ridicule.  Humor  is  not  a  faculty  of  the 
subjective  mind.  True  humor  is  a  concomitant  of 
reason  —  a  criterion  of  induction.  It  weighs  facts  and 
principles  in  its  own  balance,  detects  the  incongruous 
elements  of  thought,  and  resolves  them  in  its  own 
alembic.  In  other  words,  the  legitimate  function  of 
humor  is  to  separate  incongruous  ideas  and  exhibit  them 
in  violent  contrast.  Its  legitimate  object  is  the  ascertain¬ 
ment  of  truth,  on  the  principle  that  no  truth  is  incon¬ 
sistent  with  any  other  truth  in  the  Universe  of  God. 
Thus  Mark  Twain,  in  his  humorous  article  relating  to 
Christian  Science  and  its  founder’s  book,  has  more 
clearly  and  effectively  shown  the  fallacies  of  that  work, 
and  demonstrated  its  utterly  unscientific  character,  than 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


277 


have  all  the  arguments  of  others  combined.  The  fact 
is,  the  book  does  not  call  for  serious  argument,  much 
less  for  denunciation,  or  vituperation.  Its  only  legiti¬ 
mate  place  is  in  the  library  of  the  alienist.  Its  author 
is  a  psychic,  and  the  book  is  purely  and  simply  a 
psychical  phenomenon.  As  such  it  deserves  serious 
consideration,  for  it  stands  unique  as  an  illustration,  on 
an  extensive  scale,  of  the  vagaries  of  psychical  “  men¬ 
tation  ”  when  the  subjective  mind  of  the  patient  is 
dominated  by  false  suggestion,  and  reason  is  in  abeyance. 
A  few  words  will  make  the  foregoing  clear  to  the  mind 
of  the  reader. 

The  “  fundamental  principle  ”  upon  which  Christian 
Science  is  based,  as  set  forth  in  its  founder’s  book,  is 
that  “  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter.”  It  will  at  once 
be  seen  that  such  a  proposition  affords  the  best  possible 
illustration  of  the  mental  condition  of  its  author  —  that 
is  to  say,  of  the  dominance  of  a  false  suggestion,  and 
the  total  inhibition  of  the  inductive  faculties  or  powers. 
Each  is  shown  in  the  author’s  total  obliviousness  of  all 
the  facts  of  human  experience ;  for  if  man  know's  any¬ 
thing  he  knows  that  the  material  universe  is  a  stupendous 
reality. 

Now  comes  in  the  deductive  logic  of  the  psychic: 
dominated  by  the  fundamental  postulate  —  the  non-ex¬ 
istence  of  the  material  universe  —  and  realizing  that, 
in  all  human  probability,  something  exists,  her  deduction 
is  that  —  “  God  is  all.”  This  is  not  an  illogical  de¬ 
duction  from  the  premise;  but  whether  it  is  demon¬ 
strated  to  be  true,  as  the  author  thinks  it  is,  by  the  fact 
that  it  means  practically  the  same  thing  when  read  back¬ 
wards,  is  a  question  which  we  will  not  stop  to  consider. 
This  is  followed  by  two  other  propositions,  namely. 


278 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


“  God  is  good  ”  and  “  Good  is  mind.”  These  are  also 
held  to  be  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  they  can  be 
read  backwards  without  destroying  their  “  scientific  ” 
validity ;  although,  in  view  of  the  example  we  are  con¬ 
sidering,  it  would  seem  that  the  latter  proposition,  read 
backwards,  should  be  stated  with  some  qualifications. 
At  any  rate,  these  propositions  cannot  be  said  to  be 
illogical  deductions  from  the  premise,  although  they 
appear  to  be  merely  incidental  statements,  not  essential 
to  the  argument. 

But  in  her  next  proposition  she  resumes  her  logical 
attitude  and  restates  the  premise  and  the  conclusion  in 
the  same  sentence,  thus :  “  God,  Spirit,  being  all,  nothing 
is  matter.” 

This  is  another  of  her  reversible,  self-demonstrating 
propositions,  and  who  shall  say  that  the  conclusion  is 
not  a  logical  deduction  from  the  premise? 

She  has  many  other  propositions  of  the  invertible 
order  which  she  imagines  are  mathematically  demon¬ 
strated  by  the  fact  that  they  can  be  inverted.  No  one 
but  an  alienist,  familiar  with  the  phenomena  of  paranoia, 
would  believe  this  statement  without  proof.  Here  is 
what  she  says : 

“The  metaphysics  of  Christian  Science,  like  the  rules  of 
mathematics,  prove  the  rule  by  inversion.  For  example,  there 
is  no  pain  in  Truth,  and  no  truth  in  pain ;  no  nerve  in  mind,  and 
no  mind  in  nerve;  no  matter  in  mind,  and  no  mind  in  matter;  no 
matter  in  Life,  and  no  life  in  matter ;  no  matter  in  Good,  and 
no  good  in  matter.” 

Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  obvious  absurdity 
of  assuming  to  demonstrate  a  proposition  in  philosophy 
by  the  mathematical  process  of  inversion,  the  fact  re¬ 
mains  that  each  one  is  logically  deducible  from  the 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY  279 

original  postulate.  They  are  corollaries  of  the  propo¬ 
sition  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter. 

Of  course  the  unfortunate  author  is  unable  to  detect 
the  monstrous  absurdity  of  her  original  postulate,  and, 
consequently  she  shrinks  not  from  the  conclusions  neces¬ 
sarily  derivable  therefrom.  This  is  shown  throughout 
the  whole  book.  Hence  she  does  not  hesitate  to  declare 
that  there  are  no  such  things  possible  as  evil,  sin, 
pain,  sickness,  or  death.  How  could  there  be,  if  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  matter  —  if  all  is  God,  and  God 
is  all? 

Thus  far,  then,  the  author  is  logical.  But  it  is  the 
logic  of  the  subjective  mind  when  dominated  by  a  false 
suggestion  —  a  monstrous  absurdity.  Not  the  faintest 
glimmer  of  the  light  of  inductive  reasoning  illumines 
the  dark  and  dismal  picture.  Not  one  fact  of  human 
experience  is  considered,  nor  one  law  of  nature 
consulted. 

The  author  had  smooth  sailing  so  long  as  she  con¬ 
fined  herself  to  laying  down  general  principles.  But 
she  was  intent  on  writing  a  book  designed  to  apply  her 
“  principles  ”  to  the  affairs  of  practical  every-day  life 
and  human  experience.  It  was  then  that  the  logical 
trouble  began.  She  undertook  to  tell  how  to  heal  the 
sick  when,  according  to  her  theory,  nobody  was,  or 
could  possibly  be,  sick ;  because  God  is  all,  and  God 
cannot  be  sick.  Moreover,  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
matter,  and,  consequently,  nobody  has  a  body  to  furnish 
a  basis  of  sickness  or  of  pain.  Besides,  matter  cannot 
feel  pain,  first,  because  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter, 
and  secondly,  because  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pain. 
Sin  cannot  exist,  because  God  is  good,  and  God  is  all. 
Death  is  impossible  (i)  because  nothing  but  matter 


28o 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


can  die,  and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter;  (2)  be¬ 
cause  God  is  all,  and  God  cannot  die. 

These  and  a  thousand  other  contradictions  and  ab¬ 
surdities  fill  the  whole  book.  The  obvious  reason  is 
that,  when  the  author  comes  to  treat  of  the  facts  of 
human  experience,  she  must  necessarily  employ  the 
terms  of  human  experience;  and  since  her  theory  rec¬ 
ognizes  the  existence  of  no  such  facts,  the  result  is 
necessarily  a  monstrous  hodge-podge  of  monumental 
absurdities.  Such  a  conflict  between  theory  and  fact 
could  have  no  other  result,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
especially  when  the  theory  is  constantly  reiterated  in 
connection  with  the  facts. 

Nothing  more  need  be  said  of  the  book  itself.  It 
must  be  read  to  be  appreciated.  To  the  student  of 
neuropsychopathy  it  affords  an  abundant  supply  of  illus¬ 
trative  material.  To  the  student  of  the  new  psychology 
it  is  invaluable  as  illustrating  the  distinctive  powers  and 
limitations  of  the  two  minds  or  states  of  consciousness. 
To  the  non-professional  reader  it  furnishes  a  frightful 
example  of  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  allowing 
the  subjective  mind  to  usurp  control  over  the  dual  men¬ 
tal  organism. 

I  cannot  dismiss  this  branch  of  the  subject,  however, 
without  uttering  a  protest  against  the  constant  iteration, 
on  the  part  of  the  enemies  of  the  unfortunate  lady, 
of  the  charge  of  plagiarism.  The  story  is  that  she 
copied  the  manuscript  of  the  late  Dr.  Ouinby  and 
published  it  as  her  own  after  his  death.  The  charge 
is,  to  use  no  harsher  term,  simply  infamous ;  especially 
since  Dr.  Quinby  is  no  longer  here  to  defend  his  own 
reputation.  Besides,  the  lady  herself  denies  it  most  em¬ 
phatically.  On  the  contrary,  she  says  that  the  book  was 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


281 


divinely  inspired ;  and  she  unquestionably  believes  it. 
Her  followers  also  most  fervently  believe  it,  and  hence 
their  veneration  for  the  book  as  of  equal  authority  with 
the  Bible.  She  also  intimates  that  she  was  the  “  woman 
clothed  with  the  Sun,”  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Apoca¬ 
lypse;  and  good  Christian  Scientists,  including  hon¬ 
orable  women  not  a  few,  fervently  believe  that  the 
“  little  book,”  which  the  “  mighty  strong  angel  ”  com¬ 
manded  St.  John  to  eat,  was,  in  point  of  “  scientific  ” 
fact,  the  very  book  now  under  consideration.  This,  it 
is  needless  to  say,  has  caused  the  enemy  to  blaspheme ; 
and  the  mildest  form  of  his  blasphemy  consists  in  the 
admission  that  the  indigestible  character  of  the  contents 
of  the  book,  together  with  the  subsequent  experiences  of 
the  seer,  lend  an  air  of  plausibility  to  the  supposition. 

It  has  also  been  claimed  that  the  idea  of  the  non¬ 
existence  of  matter  was  not  original  with  the  author. 
That  may  or  may  not  be  true  without  impairing  the 
validity  of  her  claim  to  originality  in  her  method  of 
treatment.  Bishop  Berkeley  would  be  the  first  to  defend 
her  against  the  charge  of  plagiarizing  from  himself ; 
and  he  would  probably  stand  aghast  at  the  result  of 
carrying  his  pet  theory  to  its  legitimate  conclusions  in 
dealing  with  the  facts  of  human  experience.  It  is  to 
the  last  degree  improbable  that  she  ever  saw  or  heard 
of  the  writings  of  Bishop  Berkeley.  Certainly  the  phil¬ 
osophical  arguments  by  which  he  sought  to  sustain  his 
theory  are  entirely  absent  from  her  work. 

The  next  branch  of  the  subject  relates  to  the  psycho¬ 
pathic  condition  of  her  followers.  Indeed,  the  only 
justification  for  discussing  the  subject  outside  the  jour¬ 
nals  of  psychiatry,  consists  in  the  facts  that  the  sect  has 
gathered  its  forces  from  all  ranks  of  society,  that  it  num- 


282 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


bers  its  followers  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  that  its 
delusions  threaten  to  become  epidemic  and  to  fill  our 
insane  asylums.  Not  that  all  who  call  themselves 
Christian  Scientists  are  either  mattoids  or  paranoiacs, 
or  that  they  are  all  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  their 
mental  balance ;  those  charges  are  obviously  the  gross 
exaggerations  of  sectarian  prejudice  or  of  professional 
jealousy.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  vast  numbers  who 
are  rated  as  Christian  Scientists  who  know  little  of,  and 
care  less  for,  the  theories  of  the  founder;  and  therein 
lies  their  safety.  It  is  only  those  who  undertake  ser¬ 
iously  to  master  the  theory  and  to  harmonize  it  with  the 
facts  of  experience  that  are  in  imminent  danger  of  men¬ 
tal  alienation;  and  even  they  may  escape  the  serious 
phases  of  paranoia  if  they  have  not  acquired,  or  are  not 
congenitally  afflicted  with,  a  neuropsychopathic  ten¬ 
dency.  Unfortunately  this  tendency  is  alarmingly  pre¬ 
valent  in  modern  society  of  all  grades,  as  the  records 
of  the  lunatic  asylums  testify,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
numerous  comparatively  harmless  mattoids  who  are  still 
allowed  to  run  at  large. 

Among  the  numerous  causes  which  unite  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  Christian  Science  there  is  one  which  seems 
to  be  of  almost  universal  application,  and  that  is  the 
astounding  lack  of  the  power  of  logical  induction 
in  primitive  minds.  Thus,  the  founder’s  book  iterates 
and  reiterates  that  her  theories  are  demonstrated  by 
facts  of  every-day  experience.  What  facts?  Why,  the 
fact  that  people  who  believe  in  her  theories  are  healed 
by  other  people  who  believe  in  her  theories ;  and  this  is 
reenforced  by  the  scripture  quotation,  “  By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them.”  That  is  the  sum  total  of  the  in¬ 
ductive  logic  of  Christian  Science.  I  have  said  that  it 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY  283 

is  the  logic  of  primitive  minds.  Thus  the  American 
savage,  whose  theory  of  disease  is  that  the  patient  is 
beset  by  evil  spirits,  efifects  his  cures  by  frightening  away 
said  evil  spirits  by  means  of  hideous  noises  and  a  dia¬ 
bolical  make-up.  The  best  authorities  tell  us  that  the 
Indian  medicine  man’s  record  of  cures  equals  that  of  the 
M.D.’s  or  the  C.S.D.’s.  Doubtless  the  savage  regards 
this  as  demonstrative  of  the  correctness  of  his  theory; 
and  the  Christian  Science  logician  must  admit  it,  for 
“  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.” 

The  same  remarks  apply  alike  to  the  voudoo  doctor’s 
theory  and  to  that  of  the  fetish  worshipper,  who  simply 
attaches  his  fetish  to  the  patient ;  for  they  also  cure 
disease.  Are  the  theories  of  Voudooism  and  Fetishism 
“  demonstrated  to  be  true  ”  by  their  facts  of  success¬ 
ful  healing  ?  Certainly,  if  the  “  inductive  ”  logic  of 
Christian  Science  is  valid.  “  By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them  ”  is  just  as  valid  for  Fetishism  as  it  is  for 
Christian  Science,  but  it  requires  only  the  faintest  glim¬ 
mer  of  the  light  of  reason  to  enable  even  the  wayfaring 
man  to  see  that  it  has  no  valid  application  in  either  case. 
And  yet  this  is  the  sum  total  of  the  “  inductions  ”  of 
Christian  Science.  That  is  to  say,  the  fact  of  healing 
is  the  only  fact  adduced  to  prove  the  theory  that  there 
was  nothing  to  heal.  Every  other  fact  in  nature  is 
systematically  denied. 

And  this  is  the  logic  which  has  won  the  great  bulk 
of  its  proselytes  to  Christian  Science.  And  these  are 
the  phenomena  alluded  to  in  the  beginning  when  I  said 
that  Christian  Science  deserved  a  scientific  investigation. 
I  also  alluded  to  the  religious  consolation  which  many 
have  derived  from  their  connection  with  the  organiz¬ 
ation.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  seek  to  deprive  any  stricken 


284  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

soul  of  the  comfort  and  consolation  derivable  from 
religious  emotion,  by  whatsoever  means  it  may  have 
been  evoked.  It  is  mentioned  here  only  as  one  of  the 
many  causes  which  contribute  to  the  success  of  the 
Christian  Science  organization.  It  is,  perhaps,  natural 
for  the  superficial  mind  to  associate  religion  and  mental 
healing,  owing  to  the  sacred  character  of  the  Great 
Healer.  Yet  he  did  not  proclaim  it  as  a  religion  per 
se,  but  merely  as  an  element  in  that  principle  of  universal 
altruism  which  was  regnant  in  his  soul.  One  might  as 
consistently  call  hydropathy  a  religion,  because  of  the 
association  of  the  idea  of  water  with  the  sacred  rite  of 
baptism.  Practically  speaking,  the  association  of  men¬ 
tal  healing  with  religion  by  Christian  Scientists  has  been 
employed  to  coin  into  hard  cash  the  most  sacred  emotions 
of  the  human  soul. 

Again,  it  has  been  remarked  that  the  beliefs  of  primi¬ 
tive  peoples  are  often  held  with  an  emotional  tenacity 
inversely  proportioned  to  the  amount  of  evidence  adduci- 
ble  in  support  of  such  beliefs.  But  Christian  Science, 
so  far  as  I  am  aware,  furnishes  the  only  example  of 
a  great  body  of  people  who  cling  with  fervent  emotion 
to  a  belief  in  that  which  they  know  is  not  true.  This  is, 
literally,  atavism  run  mad ;  for  it  is  more  than  atavism, 
in  that  it  embraces  a  pronounced  pathological  element 
unique  in  the  history  of  mental  degeneracy.  This  well- 
recognized  force  must,  therefore,  be  counted  as  one  of 
the  most  essential  factors  which  contribute  to  the  success 
of  Christian  Science. 

Atavism,  or  the  tendency  to  revert  to  primitive  types, 
is  a  force  just  as  potent  in  the  social,  political,  and 
religious  realms  as  it  is  in  the  domain  of  mental  and 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


285 


organic  life.  In  the  social  and  political  worlds  it  is 
manifested  in  anarchism  and  socialism.  In  the  reli¬ 
gious  world  its  tendency  is  often  in  the  direction  of 
that  most  primitive  of  all  known  religions  —  Fetishism 
—  the  worship  of  inanimate  objects  —  the  earliest  form 
of  idolatry. 

In  this  age  of  enlightenment,  it  is,  of  course,  a  com¬ 
paratively  rare  occurrence  for  the  civilized  world  to  be 
invited  to  witness  a  decided  recrudescence  of  Fetishism 
in  its  pristine  purity.  Mere  survivals  are  comparatively 
common  —  so  common,  in  fact,  and  so  modified  by 
environmental  conditions,  as  to  escape  the  notice  of  all 
but  the  critical  anthropologist.  Even  in  the  revivals  of 
Fetishism,  its  crudest  forms  are  thus  modified  by  later 
forms  of  worship. 

Thus  Christian  Science,  which  is  probably  the  crudest 
form  of  Fetishism  possible  in  this  age  and  country,  is 
a  decidedly  modified  form  of  primeval  Fetish  worship. 
In  fact,  it  necessarily  includes  the  later  forms  of  idolatry, 
as  well  as  some  of  the  essential  elements  of  polytheism. 
It  cannot  be  said  to  be  modified  by  Christianity,  the 
only  thing  Christian  about  it  being  its  name.  All  the 
rest  is  pure  assumption.  Were  we  dealing  with  other 
than  a  problem  in  psychiatry,  it  would  be  called  “  blas¬ 
phemy.”  But  the  proverbial  cunning  of  madness  alone 
is  displayed  in  assuming  the  name  and  in  making  the 
claim  that  it  is  a  superior  form  of  Christianity.  Thus 
divested  of  the  assumed  element  of  Christianity,  nothing 
remains  of  the  religion  of  Christian  Science  but  a  com¬ 
pound  of  Idolatry,  Polytheism,  and  Fetishism. 

I  employ  the  term  “  Idolatry  ”  in  the  sense  that  it 
consists  in  the  worship  of  anything  other  than  God 
himself ;  and  the  term  “  Polytheism  ”  in  its  accepted 


286 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


meaning,  the  worship  of  a  plurality  of  gods.  They  may, 
therefore,  be  considered  together. 

The  founder  of  the  sect  has  laid  the  foundation  for 
the  worship  of  herself  by  reconstructing  the  Lord’s 
Prayer,  apparently  for  that  purpose.  Thus  the  opening 
clause,  “  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,”  is  trans¬ 
formed  into,  “  Our  Father  and  Mother  God,  all  har¬ 
monious.”  It  will  be  observed  that  the  words  “  which 
art  in  heaven  ”  are  cunningly  omitted,  and  the  words 
“  all  harmonious  ”  substituted ;  thus  evading  the  im¬ 
plication  that  the  God  whom  they  worship  is  all  in 
heaven,  while  the  Mother  God  is  still  on  earth.  The 
substituted  words  —  “  all  harmonious  ”  —  clearly  con¬ 
vey  the  idea  of  plurality.  Otherwise  they  would  be 
meaningless ;  for,  whereas  a  unitary  God  must  be  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  “  all  harmonious  ”  with  himself,  it  does  not 
follow  that  a  Mother  God  on  earth  is  “  all  harmonious  ” 
with  the  Father  God  in  heaven.  Hence  the  necessity 
for  the  asseveration  in  the  Christian  Science  ritual  of 
worship. 

Of  course  no  one  can  say  positively  that  the  un¬ 
fortunate  lady  revised  the  Lord’s  Prayer  with  the  in¬ 
tention  of  including  herself  in  the  Godhead,  but  it  can 
be  readily  believed  to  be  true  by  those  familiar  with 
the  salient  symptoms  of  the  particular  forms  of  mental 
alienation,  which  we  have  been  considering.  Monu¬ 
mental  egotism  is  a  never-failing  symptom  of  mental 
degeneracy,  and  our  asylums  are  peopled  with  those  who 
believe  themselves  to  be  God.  What  she  believes,  how¬ 
ever,  is  of  small  importance  compared  with  the  deplor¬ 
able  fact  that  she  is  worshipped  as  the  “  Mother  God,” 
equally  with  the  Father,  by  the  more  advanced  (in  men¬ 
tal  degeneracy)  of  the  Christian  Science  “  Church.” 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


287 


It  is  this  fact  that  invests  the  whole  subject  with  interest 
to  the  alienist  and  with  importance  to  every  sane  man 
and  woman. 

The  most  astounding  of  all  the  manifestations  of  the 
atavic  tendencies  of  Christian  Science  consists  in  the 
practice  of  Fetishism,  practically  in  its  primeval  purity. 
Many  such  practices  are  revealed  through  private 
sources,  but  I  will  confine  myself  to  one  or  two  of 
those  that  are  already  notorious.  First,  then,  the 
founder’s  book  itself  is  a  fetish.  In  the  first  place,  it 
is  worshipped  as  of  divine  origin,  equal,  if  not  superior, 
in  authority  to  the  Bible.  Again,  the  book  is  fervently 
believed  to  be  itself  invested  with  the  divine  power  of 
healing.  The  authority  for  each  of  these  beliefs  is  found 
in  the  book  itself.  Its  author’s  claim  to  divine  inspi¬ 
ration  is  boldly  stated,  and  the  faithful  are  informed 
that  a  devout  perusal  of  its  pages  will  heal  their 
diseases.  Accordingly,  the  truly  good  Christian  Scien¬ 
tist  reads  it  in  an  ecstasy  of  holy  joy,  and  some  of 
them  have  been  known  to  sleep  with  it  under  their 
pillows.  If  this  is  not  fetish  worship,  will  some  un¬ 
prejudiced  student  of  comparative  theology  tell  us  its 
legitimate  classification  ? 

Again,  Darwin  tells  us  in  his  “Journal”  (p.  458) 
that  he  visited  a  tribe  of  fetish  worshippers  in  Keeling 
Island.  One  of  their  fetishes  consisted  of  a  wooden 
spoon,  dressed  in  doll’s  clothes ;  and  he  avers  that  it 
danced  “  in  good  time  to  the  song  of  the  children  and 
women.”  He  adds  that  “  it  was  a  most  foolish  spec¬ 
tacle,”  but  that  the  Malays  firmly  “  believe  in  its  spiritual 
movements.” 

I  hope  the  enemies  of  the  founder  of  Christian 
Science  will  not  accuse  her  of  plagiarism  when  they 


288 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


recall  her  now  notorious  spoon  fetish.  Hers  is  a  metal 
spoon,  silver  plated,  with  her  likeness  stamped  thereon 
(price,  $3.50  each),  and  her  devout  worshippers  are 
each  expected  to  purchase  one  and  use  it,  habitually, 
for  eating  soup  withal.  Her  spoon  is  also  invested  with 
great  spiritual  power  and  significance,  and  he  who  uses 
it  in  the  spirit  of  true  worship  will  realize  its  health¬ 
giving  potency.  His  spiritual  strength  will  be  renewed. 
His  soup  will  do  him  good. 

No,  the  founder  of  Christian  Science  is  in  no  proper 
sense  a  plagiarist.  Fetish  worship  is  common  to  all 
primitive  peoples  of  a  certain  grade  of  intellectual  de¬ 
velopment.  When  the  conditions  and  the  phenomena 
are  found  coexistent  in  the  midst  of  a  high  civilization, 
science  names  it  “  Atavism.” 

I  have  said  that  many  remarkable  cures  of  diseases 
have  been  effected  by  persons  who  practise  mental  heal¬ 
ing  under  the  name  of  “  Christian  Science.”  Of  this 
there  is  no  room  for  reasonable  doubt.  I  have  also  shown 
the  illogical  attitude  of  those  who  claim  that  the  fact  of 
healing  demonstrates  the  soundness  of  the  theory  under 
which  they  practise.  Nevertheless,  to  the  mind  of  the 
superficial  observer,  there  is  a  mysterious  nexus  be¬ 
tween  the  theory  and  the  results  of  the  practice  of 
Christian  Science;  and  it  remains  to  explain  the  real 
cause  of  the  phenomenon,  and  thus  divest  it  of  the 
glamour  of  mysticism  with  which  it  has  been  invested 
by  superstition. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  Christian  Science,  considered 
as  a  therapeutic  agent,  is  a  system  of  mental  healing. 
No  good  Christian  Scientist  will  gainsay  that  propo¬ 
sition,  since  there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter,  and  all  is 
God  and  God  is  mind. 


A  FSYCHOFATmC  STUDY  289 

The  next  proposition  is,  that  success  in  mental  healing 
IS  dependent  upon  mental  conditions.  That  is  to  say, 
a  certain  well-defined  condition  of  mind  in  the  patient  is 
absolutely  essential  to  success  in  mental  healing.  Chris¬ 
tian  Scientists  themselves  will  hardly  deny  this  proposi¬ 
tion,  for  to  do  so  would  be  to  repudiate  the  Master 
himself  as  an  authority  on  that  subject.  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  the  first  to  define  the  condition  necessary 
to  successful  mental  healing.  His  whole  career  was 
demonstrative  of  the  truth  of  his  declaration.  And  all 
the  experimental  researches  of  nineteen  supervenient 
centuries  have  served  but  to  confirm  and  illustrate  its 
truth.  In  that  declaration  he  summed  up  the  whole 
law  of  mental  healing  in  the  one  word  “  Faith.”  That 
was  the  one  mental  condition  on  the  part  of  the  patient 
which  he  constantly  insisted  upon  as  essential  to  the 
exercise  of  his  power.  That  it  was  essential  was  clearly 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  could  not  succeed  in 
healing  the  sick  in  his  native  city  “  because  of  their 
unbelief.” 

The  far-reaching  significance  of  his  declaration  seems 
never  to  have  been  appreciated  at  its  full  value,  espe¬ 
cially  by  Christian  Scientists  and  others  who  believe 
that  mental  healing  is  due  to  the  exercise  of  some  force, 
miraculous  or  otherwise,  by  some  agency  extraneous  to 
the  patient  himself.  The  words  of  Jesus  emphatically 
negative  the  belief  in  any  extraneous  agency  whatever. 
The  word  “  faith,”  as  before  remarked,  indicated  the 
mental  condition  essential  to  success  in  healing.  It  is 
the  principle  which  energizes  the  human  soul,  and  with¬ 
out  which  the  soul  is  powerless  to  heal  the  body.  And 
when  Jesus  declared  to  his  patients,  as  he  did  with  in¬ 
sistent  iteration,  “  Thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole,”  it 

19 


290  THE  EVOLUTIOH  OF  THE  SOUL 

was  a  clear,  positive,  and  emphatic  statement  of  the  one 
basic  principle  of  mental  therapeutics.  It  was  equivalent 
to  saying,  nineteen  hundreds  years  in  advance,  just  what 
modern  experimental  science  has  demonstrated  to  be 
true,  namely,  that  the  mental  energy  that  heals  the  sick 
resides  within  the  patient  himself.  All  that  the  healer 
does,  or  can  do  —  all  that  Jesps  did,  or  pretended  to  do 
—  was  to  induce  in  the  mind  of  the  patient  the  neces¬ 
sary  mental  condition,  to  stimulate,  by  appropriate  acts 
and  words,  the  energizing  principle  of  his  soul,  —  faith. 
No  act  or  word  of  Jesus  militates,  in  the  slightest  de¬ 
gree,  against  that  one  emphatic  declaration.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  proclamation,  or  formulation,  of  the  Supreme 
Law  of  Mental  Therapeutics,  —  the  law  under  which 
he  performed  his  wonderful  works ;  the  law  that  he 
taught  to  his  disciples ;  the  law  under  which  his  prom¬ 
ise  was  made  that  those  coming  after  him  should  do 
“  even  more  wonderful  works  ”  than  he  had  done ;  the 
one  universal  law  under  which  all  mental  healing  has 
been  accomplished  since  the  beginning  of  time. 

This  is  Christian  Science  as  Christ  understood  it.  At 
the  very  threshold  of  the  inquiry,  therefore,  we  find  it 
to  be  the  -very  antithesis  of  the  Christian  Science  of 
modern  times,  in  that  Jesus  declared  that  the  healing 
power  resides  in  the  patient,  whereas  modern  Christian 
Science  teaches  us,  first,  that  there  is  nothing  to  heal, 
and  secondly,  that  God  himself  interposes  and  does  the 
healing. 

In  undertaking  to  correlate  all  methods  of  mental 
healing,  and  to  reduce  them  to  one  general  principle, 
I  shall  assume  that  the  Master  knew  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  science  of  which  he  was  the  Great  Exemplar. 
I  shall  hazard  nothing  in  this  assumption,  even  from 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


291 


the  most  rigidly  scientific  standpoint,  for  I  shall  proceed 
to  show  that  the  discoveries  of  modern  science  demon¬ 
strate  the  truth  of  his  declaration. 

I  shall  also  assume  that  there  is  but  one  law  of  mental 
healing.  Nature  is  not  prodigal  of  laws;  but  those  that 
exist  are  immutable,  and  they  are  universal  in  their 
application.  Thus  the  law  of  gravitation  applies  alike 
to  the  sun,  the  stars,  the  planets,  the  earth,  the  falling 
apple,  and  the  smallest  atom  in  the  material  universe. 
The  law  of  mental  healing  is  also  universal  if  “  nature 
is  constant,”  and  it  applies  to  all  methods  alike,  without 
reference  to  any  one’s  theory  of  causation  or  to  the 
names  by  which  the  various  systems  are  designated. 
If,  therefore,  any  person  is  healed  by  mental  processes, 
it  follows  that  the  law  has  been  invoked,  whether  he  is 
conscious  of  it  or  not;  just  as  the  workingman  who 
falls  from  a  scaffold  obeys  the  law  of  gravitation,  al¬ 
though  he  may  never  have  heard  of  Newton  or  his 
Principia.  If  told  that  he  and  mother  earth  were  at¬ 
tracted  to  each  other  with  a  force  proportioned  directly 
as  to  the  mass  and  inversely  as  to  the  square  of  the 
distance,  he  would  doubtless  blush  deeply  and  perhaps 
deny  the  soft  impeachment,  just  as  the  Christian  Sci¬ 
entist  denies,  with  hysterical  vehemence,  that  she  ever 
was  guilty  of  healing  the  sick  under  the  same  law  that 
prevails  in  Hypnotism,  Mesmerism,  Animal  IMagnetism, 
Fetishism,  or  any  of  the  other  isms  under  which  mental 
healing  has  masqueraded  since  the  dawn  of  creation. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  just  as  true  that  there  is  but  one  gen¬ 
eral  law  of  mental  healing  as  it  is  that  there  is  but  one 
general  law  of  gravitation.  What  that  law  is,  and  why 
it  is  effective  under  all  systems  and  in  spite  of  all  theories 
of  causation,  I  shall  now  try  to  make  clear  to  the  general 
reader. 


292 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


I  have  shown  elsewhere  ^  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
endowed  with  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
the  human  soul.  The  internal  evidence  of  this  fact 
contained  in  the  history  of  his  life,  when  considered 
in  connection  with  the  discoveries  of  modern  psycholog¬ 
ical  science,  is  simply  overwhelming.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  his  knowledge  of  the  law  of  mental  healing, 
the  salient  feature  of  which,  and  the  only  one  which  it 
is  important  that  we  should  consider  in  this  connection, 
has  already  been  mentioned  above,  namely,  his  declara¬ 
tion  that  the  healing  power  resides  within  the  patient 
and  not  in  any  extraneous  agency ;  that  “  faith  ”  is  the 
energizing  principle  of  the  soul,  and  that  when  faith 
is  perfect  “  all  things  are  possible.”  If,  therefore,  we 
find  that  this,  the  fundamental  postulate  of  the  Master, 
is  demonstrated  by  the  facts  of  Experimental  Psychol¬ 
ogy,  we  shall  be  in  possession  of  the  key  to  the  mystery. 
That  is  to  say,  we  shall  have  found  the  nexus  of  cause 
and  effect  which  correlates  the  undoubted  facts  of  heal¬ 
ing  by  the  methods  of  Christian  Science,  Voudooism, 
Fetishism,  and  kindred  superstitions  with  those  of 
Hypnotism,  Animal  Magnetism  so  called,  and  all  other 
methods  of  mental  healing. 

Assuming  then,  provisionally,  the  absolute  veridity  of 
the  Master’s  postulate,  it  follows  that  the  office  or  func¬ 
tion  of  the  healer  is  simple  to  the  last  degree,  and  con¬ 
sists  in  stimulating,  energizing,  and  directing  that  force 
within  the  patient  which  does  the  work  of  healing.  And 
that  is  what  Experimental  Psychology  has  demonstrated 
to  be  true  in  all  cases  and  under  all  conditions.  Briefly 
stated,  all  experiments  in  psychical  research,  together 
with  all  the  facts  recorded  of  mental  healing  in  all  the 

1  See  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phe7iomc7ta,  chap,  xxiii.,  et  seg. 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


293 


ages  of  the  world,  conspire  to  prove  that  the  following 
propositions  furnish  the  master-key  to  all  the  mysteries 
of  mental  therapeutics : 

1.  Man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mind,  —  objective 
and  subjective. 

2.  The  subjective  mind  controls  the  functions,  sensa¬ 
tions,  and  conditions  of  the  body. 

3.  The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to 
control  by  the  power  of  suggestion. 

It  will  at  once  be  seen  that,  if  these  three  propositions 
are  true,  the  words  of  Jesus  are  scientifically  verified, 
his  every  act  in  healing  the  sick  is  explained,  and  that 
all  the  facts  of  mental  healing  are  explicable  under  the 
law  of  suggestion. 

That  the  first  proposition  is  true  is  attested  by  every 
psychic  phenomenon  that  has  ever  been  recorded.  That 
is  to  say,  the  mysteries  that  have  puzzled  and  appalled 
mankind  throughout  all  the  ages  have  been  dispelled  and 
removed  from  the  realms  of  superstition  by  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  that  fundamental  law  of  psychology.  It  was 
first  publicly  formulated,  and  the  two  minds  or  states 
of  consciousness  clearly  differentiated,  in  1893.^  Since 
then  it  has  been  accepted  as  at  least  a  valid  working 
hypothesis  by  every  unprejudiced  scientist  who  has  en¬ 
gaged  in  psychical  research.  In  short,  all  psychic  phe¬ 
nomena  attest  it ;  experimental  surgery  ^  confirms  it, 
and  the  facts  of  organic  evolution  ®  demonstrate  its 
scientific  accuracy. 

The  second  proposition  is  provisional,  depending 
upon  the  verification  of  the  first  and  third.  It  is 

1  See  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena. 

^  See  Surgeon-General  Hammond  in  his  Treatise  on  Insanity,  quoted 
by  the  author  in  A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life. 

*  See  The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man. 


294  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

explanatory  of  what  has  been  vaguely  termed  “  the 
principle  of  life,”  “  the  recuperative  energy  of  nature,” 
etc. 

The  third  proposition  embraces  the  greatest  discovery 
in  psychological  science  —  the  law  of  suggestion.  The 
famous  Dr.  Braid,  of  Manchester,  England,  is  entitled 
to  the  credit  of  laying  the  foundation  for  the  discovery. 
But  it  remained  for  Liebault,  of  France,  to  formulate 
the  law,  thus  rendering  it  practically  available  to  science. 
In  their  hands,  however,  the  law  was  confined  to  the 
phenomena  of  experimental  “  Hypnotism,”  a  word 
which  Braid  coined  to  soften  scientific  prejudice  against 
Mesmerism. 

Under  the  dual-mind  theory,  however,  it  was  seen  that 
the  law  of  suggestion  is,  ex  hypothesi,  a  universal  law  of 
the  subjective  mind,  dominating  it  under  all  states  and 
conditions  of  the  objective  mind.  It  seems  almost  super¬ 
fluous  to  say  that  this  indefinitely  enlarged  the  field  of 
effective  suggestion,  and  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon  all 
phases  of  psychic  phenomena.  For  it  was  not  only  ex¬ 
planatory  of  why  it  is  that  the  hypnotized  subject  can, 
by  mere  suggestion,  be  made  to  believe  himself  a  dog 
or  a  devil,  a  great  statesman  or  a  helpless  infant  “  mewl¬ 
ing  and  puking  in  the  nurse’s  arms,”  but  why  it  is  that 
the  subjective  mind  of  the  spirit  medium,  dominated  by 
the  ever-present  suggestion  that  she  is  under  the  control 
of  spirits,  not  only  believes  itself  to  be  a  spirit,  but  will 
personate  any  one  suggested,  real  or  imaginary.  It  also 
shows  how  it  happens  that  our  lunatic  asylums  are  full 
of  Napoleons,  Hannibals,  kings  and  potentates,  gods 
innumerable  and  sporadic  devils. 

What  is  more  to  our  present  purpose,  it  reveals  the 
secret  of  all  so-called  imaginary  diseases,  or,  more  prop- 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


295 


erly,  diseases  induced  by  morbid  imagination ;  or,  to  be 
scientifically  exact,  diseases  induced  by  false  sugges¬ 
tions.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  all  the  ail¬ 
ments  of  the  human  family  may  be  traced  to  this 
source.  Such  suggestions  arise  from  a  thousand  dif¬ 
ferent  sources ;  for  example,  newspaper  advertisements 
of  patent  medicines,  especially  those  containing  a  long 
list  of  “  symptoms  ”  indicative  of  imminent  danger  and 
the  stern  necessity  for  immediate  investment  in  a  dozen 
bottles  of  the  medicine.  The  success  of  this  plan  of  sug¬ 
gestion  is  rendered  easy  by  the  fact  that  there  are  few 
imaginative  people  who  cannot,  by  diligent  introspec¬ 
tion,  find  one  or  more  of  the  advertised  symptoms.  Ed¬ 
ucated  physicians  are  all  well  aware  of  the  potency  of 
suggestion  in  the  creation  of  diseased  conditions  of  the 
body.  They  have  been  so  instructed  in  their  schools 
and  colleges,  and  many  of  them  have  had  valuable  prac¬ 
tical  experience  along  those  lines  in  their  daily  practice. 
Comparatively  few,  however,  have  practically  tested  the 
potency  of  suggestion  as  a  remedial  agent.  Hence  they 
will  be  prepared  to  give  but  a  theoretical  indorsement 
of  what  is  to  follow.  Those,  however,  who  have  studied 
the  subject  by  scientific  methods,  and  have  had  practical 
experience  besides,  will  instantly  recognize  in  the  psy¬ 
chological  formula  above  given  a  potentially  complete 
explication  of  all  the  phenomena  of  mental  healing.  A 
very  few  words  will  suffice  to  render  the  explanation 
clear  to  the  general  reader. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  argument  we  may  leave  the 
first  proposition  out  of  consideration  altogether.  The 
second  proposition,  that  “  The  subjective  mind  controls 
the  functions,  sensations,  and  conditions  of  the  body,” 
embraces  that  potential  healing  force,  resident  within 


296  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

the  body,  which  Jesus  said  must  be  energized  by  faith. 
It  matters  not  what  terminology  vi?e  may  employ  to  des¬ 
ignate  it,  the  fact  remains  that  it  exists.  We  may  call 
it  “  the  principle  of  life,”  or  we  may  designate  it  by  the 
histological  term,  “  communal  soul  ”  (Haeckel),  which 
is  that  intelligent  energy  which  controls  and  regulates 
the  functions  of  the  innumerable  cells  of  which  the 
whole  body  is  composed,  each  one  of  which  is  itself  an 
intelligent  entity.  Each  cell  is  highly  specialized  with 
reference  to  its  location  and  its  consequent  functions, 
each  having  its  special  duty  to  perform.  I  do  not  step 
outside  of  pure  materialism  when  I  say  this.  Nor  do 
I  do  so  when  I  say  that  ”  the  functions  of  an  organ  are 
the  functions  of  the  cells  of  which  it  consists,”  and  that 
“  disease  is  abnormal  performance  of  function  by  one 
or  more  organs  or  tissues.”  ^  Disease  of  the  body,  there¬ 
fore,  is  disease  of  the  cells  of  the  body,  and  the  health 
or  disease  of  the  cell  is  determined  by  its  normal  or  ab¬ 
normal  food-supply,  which  in  turn  depends  upon  the 
circulation  or  composition  of  the  blood.^ 

These,  of  course,  are  very  general  terms,  and  they  are 
of  very  wide,  if  not  of  universal,  application.  No  edu¬ 
cated  physician  of  any  of  the  schools  will  gainsay  them, 
and  every  histologist  will  recognize  them  as  embracing 
the  very  fundamentals  of  his  science.  Nor  will  any 
scientist  deny  that  each  and  all  of  these  cellular  intelli¬ 
gences,  which  comprise  all  that  there  is  of  any  multi¬ 
cellular  organism,  are  governed  by  a  central  intelligence, 
sleepless,  ever  alert  for  the  preservation  of  the  body, 
instinctive,  automatically  controlling  the  involuntary 
muscles,  and  capable,  in  response  to  stimuli,  of  acceler- 

1  Green,  Pathology  a7id  Morbid  Anatomy,  pp.  29,  30. 

*  Op.  cit. 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


297 


ating  or  retarding  the  action  of  every  fibre  and  function 
of  the  body.  These  stimuli  may  be  either  physical  or 
mental.  They  may  consist  of  food  supplies,  normal  or 
abnormal,  or  of  medicines,  or  they  may  be  purely  mental. 
Thus  the  heart’s  action  may  be  accelerated  or  retarded, 
or  suspended  altogether,  by  good  or  bad  news.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  secre¬ 
tion  or  excretion,  digestion  or  assimilation — in  short,  the 
normal  performance  of  any  of  the  functions  of  the  body 
may  be  inhibited  or  promoted  by  appropriate  mental 
stimuli.  It  goes  without  saying  that  when  the  stimulus 
is  purely  mental  the  action  of  the  central  intelligence 
upon  the  cells  involved  is  also  mental.  It  may  be  direct, 
as  in  imparting  an  impulse  through  the  nerve  ganglia, 
or  it  may  be  indirect,  as  in  the  re-establishment  of  nor¬ 
mal  metabolism  in  diseased  cells  by  the  induction  of  an 
increased  flow  of  blood  to  the  group  affected.  In  either 
case  it  is  a  mental  phenomenon  induced  by  a  mental 
stimulus.  Medicines  could  do  no  more,  and  frequently 
they  do  much  less. 

Now,  the  existence  of  this  central  controlling  intelli¬ 
gence,  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  designated,  or  what¬ 
soever  theory  one  may  entertain  as  to  its  ultimate  origin 
or  destiny,  its  powers,  its  potentialities,  or  its  limitations, 
is  now  recognized  with  practical  unanimity  by  all  stu¬ 
dents,  not  only  of  the  new  psychology,  but  of  physiol¬ 
ogy,  physiological  psychology,  and  histology.  More¬ 
over,  what  is  more  to  our  present  purpose,  every  student 
of  experimental  psychology  knows  that  this  central  in¬ 
telligence  is  constantly  amenable  to  control  by  the  subtle 
power  of  suggestion.  Indeed,  experimental  psychology 
may  be  said  to  have  revealed  its  existence.  It  certainly 
has  demonstrated  its  suggestibility,  as  well  as  its  potency 


298 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


as  a  therapeutic  agent  when  energized  by  an  appropriate 
mental  stimulus. 

These  stimuli  are  now  known  to  psychological  science 
by  the  generic  name  of  “  suggestions.”  They  are  multi¬ 
form  in  character,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  skilful  prac¬ 
titioner  they  are  varied  in  accordance  with  the  individ¬ 
ual  idiosyncrasies  of  his  patients.  But  multiform  as 
therapeutic  suggestions  are  in  practice,  they  may  all  be 
comprised  under  one  generic  term  having  reference  to 
the  fact  that  all  disease,  in  its  ultimate  analysis,  is  disease 
of  the  tissues  or  of  the  cells  of  which  the  tissues  are 
composed.  The  central  intelligence,  or  “  communal 
soul  ”  as  Haeckel  terms  it,  necessarily  conveys  the  men¬ 
tal  stimulus  which  it  receives  to  each  of  the  cells 
affected.  And  as  each  cell  is  itself  an  organic  entity, 
endowed  with  a  mental  organism  of  its  own,  and  per¬ 
forming  all  the  functions  of  animal  life,  it  follows  that 
the  mental  stimulus  received  by  the  communal  intelli¬ 
gence  is  conveyed  directly,  as  a  mental  stimulus,  to  the 
mind  organism  of  each  cell,  thus  stimulating  it  into 
normal  activity.  Effective  therapeutic  suggestions, 
therefore,  are  those  which  reach  the  intelligences  com¬ 
posing  the  organic  tissues  that  are  diseased,  stimulating 
those  that  are  being  atrophied,  and  regulating  their 
supply  of  nutriment  in  cases  of  hypertrophy. 

Any  student  of  histology,  who  is  also  acquainted  with  , 
the  psychology  of  micro-organisms,  will  readily  grasp 
my  meaning  and  be  able  to  extend  the  principle  involved 
to  all  cases  of  effective  mental  healing.  Even  the  non¬ 
professional  reader  will  see  at  a  glance  that  this  hypoth¬ 
esis  greatly  simplifies  the  whole  theory  of  suggestive 
therapeutics,  in  that  it  reveals  the  machinery  through 
which  mental  stimuli,  or  suggestions,  are  made  effective. 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY  299 

Moreover,  it  divests  “  suggestion  ”  of  that  indefinable 
glamour  of  mystery  with  which  it  has  been  invested. 
To  the  professional  psychotherapist  it  will  at  once  be 
obvious  that  other  systems  of  healing,  not  supposed  to 
be  suggestive,  owe  their  success,  in  great  measure,  to 
this  principle ;  for  example,  massage  and  osteopathy. 
The  masseur  may  well  be  supposed  to  convey,  uncon¬ 
sciously,  suggestions  directly  to  the  affected  cells  by 
manipulation  of  the  group,  and  the  osteopathist,  also 
unconsciously,  by  manipulating  the  nerve  centres  lead¬ 
ing  to  the  group.  This  hypothesis  will,  in  fact,  be 
found  to  afford  an  explication  of  many  groups  and  sub¬ 
groups  of  phenomena,  particularly  of  all  cures  effected 
by  touch,  digital  manipulation,  or  laying  on  of  hands. 
Besides,  it  affords  an  explanation  of  many  other  mys¬ 
terious  psychical  phenomena,  outside  the  domain  of 
suggestive  therapeutics,  which  cannot  be  mentioned 
here. 

It  must  now  be  obvious  that  a  generic  term  for  thera¬ 
peutic  suggestion  must  have  special  reference  to  the  fact 
that,  in  its  ultimate  analysis,  effective  suggestions  are 
those  that  directly  or  indirectly  reach  the  seat  of  the 
disease;  that  is,  the  cell  intelligences  composing  the 
diseased  tissues.  Its  intimate  association  with  histol¬ 
ogy,  or  the  branch  of  biology  that  treats  of  the  structure 
of  the  tissues  of  organized  bodies,  suggests  histo-sug- 
gestion ;  but  partly  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  and  espe¬ 
cially  to  avoid  coining  a  word,  I  have  chosen  the  term 
“  histionic  suggestion  ”  to  designate  that  form  of  men¬ 
tal  stimulus  that  energizes  diseased  tissues,  or  the  cells 
of  which  they  are  composed.^  In  this  sense  the  term  is 

1  “  Histionic  ”  is  a  word  not  found  in  any  English  dictionary  with 
which  I  am  familiar.  My  authority  for  its  use  in  connection  with  His- 


300  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

generic,  for  that  it  embraces  the  efficient  cause  of  all 
therapeutic  effects  of  all  forms  of  suggestion.  Specifi¬ 
cally,  it  may  be  defined  as  that  direct  method  of  convey¬ 
ing  therapeutic  suggestions  which  consists  in  personal 
contact  or  digital  manipulation.  I  may  add,  en  pas¬ 
sant,  that  this  method,  when  employed  with  intelli¬ 
gent  purposefulness  by  the  proper  person,  is  by  far  the 
most  efficient  and  universally  practicable  of  all  the  mul¬ 
tiform  methods  of  imparting  therapeutic  suggestions. 
Indeed,  it  is  often  the  only  method  by  which  they  can 
be  imparted.  A  demonstrative  illustration  is  found  in 
the  soothing  touch  of  the  sympathetic  mother,  often 
instinctively  applied  to  an  infant  too  young  to  assimilate 
any  other  form  of  mental  stimulus.  Intelligently  ap¬ 
plied,  its  effects  are  indefinitely  multiplied.  Many  fan¬ 
tastic  theories  have  been  invoked  to  account  for  this 
well-known  phenomenon,  often  with  the  view  of  re¬ 
moving  it,  with  its  innumerable  cognates,  from  the 
domain  of  suggestion.  But,  in  its  ultimate  analysis,  it 
ranges  itself  under  that  generic  term.  It  is  histionic 
suggestion,  peripherally  applied.  In  other  words,  it  is 
a  mental  stimulus  or  impulse,  conveyed  by  a  second 
subjective  personality  to  the  affected  cells,  precisely  as 
the  same  impulse  is  conveyed  by  the  central  subjec¬ 
tive  intelligence  of  the  adult  patient  in  response  to  any 
form  of  suggestion. 

This  may  seem  to  be  a  digression.  But  I  have  deemed 
it  necessary,  not  only  to  assert  the  universality  of  the  law 
of  suggestion  as  applied  to  mental  healing,  but  to  dem¬ 
onstrate  it  by  an  appeal  to  the  universally  acknowledged 
facts  of  modern  science.  To  that  end  I  have  sought 

tology  is  found  in  the  English  translation  of  Professor  Haeckel’s  Riddle 
of  the  Universe,  chap.  vii. 


A  PSYCHOPATHIC  STUDY 


301 


to  remove  therapeutic  suggestion  from  the  domain  of 
the  mysterious  and  the  occult,  as  well  as  from  the 
dismal  realm  of  superstition.  I  have  endeavored  to 
show  its  reasonableness,  its  conformity  to  all  the 
known  facts  of  human  experience,  and  that  its  sim¬ 
plicity  stamps  it  with  the  sign-manual  of  scientific 
truth.  I  leave  it  to  the  intelligent  reader  to  draw  his 
own  conclusions,  and  to  make  his  own  application  to 
Christian  Science,  as  well  as  to  all  other  methods  of 
mental  healing. 

For  seeking  to  place  mental  therapeutics  in  the  cus¬ 
tody  of  a  law  I  shall  doubtless  be  accused  of  trying  to 
rob  the  Divine  Father  of  the  honor  due  to  the  Healer  of 
his  children.  I  am  not.  On  the  contrary,  I  regard  it  as 
the  strongest  possible  incentive  to  divine  worship,  the 
greatest  conceivable  reason  for  profound  adoration,  the 
most  indubitable  evidence  of  his  infinite  mercy  and  lov¬ 
ing  kindness  to  his  children,  to  reflect  that  God  has  in¬ 
stituted  a  universal  law  for  the  healing  of  the  nations, 
—  Christian,  pagan,  and  savage.  No  stronger  or  more 
convincing  teleological  argument  has  ever  been  made 
than  that  derivable  from  the  one  pregnant  fact  that  God 
has  instituted  a  law  of  mental  healing  that  adjusts  itself 
with  equal  facility  to  all  peoples,  all  beliefs,  all  super¬ 
stitions,  and  all  grades  of  civilization.  Ancient  history 
tells  us  of  an  indefinite  number  of  methods,  each  based 
upon  some  fantastic  theory  or  upon  some  gross  super¬ 
stition.  Yet  each  method  seems  to  have  been  equally 
effective,  for  history  informs  us  that  under  all  sys¬ 
tems  “  miraculous  ”  cures  were  common  occurrences. 
In  view  of  this  well-known  fact,  one  may  well  pause 
to  inquire  what  would  have  been  the  fate  of  those 
primitive  peoples  if  the  law  of  suggestion  had  not  been 


302  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

as  potent  for  good  as  for  evil  —  for  the  promotion  of 
health  as  for  the  creation  of  disease?  For  untold  cen¬ 
turies  suggestion,  in  its  myriad  forms,  was  the  only 
therapeutic  agency  available.  But  it  was  perfectly 
adapted  to  primitive  conditions  of  human  intelligence; 
a  fortiori,  because  of  its  perfect  adaptation  to  all  forms 
of  belief,  superstitious  or  otherwise. 

What  is,  if  possible,  of  still  more  profound  teleo¬ 
logical  significance  is  the  fact  that  it  is  adapted  to 
the  uses  of  the  highest  civilization,  for  when  the  law 
is  scientifically  comprehended  it  may  be  intelligently 
applied.  Besides,  in  the  midst  of  the  highest  civiliza¬ 
tion  yet  attained,  primitive  minds  still  exist,  primitive 
methods  of  reasoning  still  prevail,  atavism  still  consti¬ 
tutes  a  retrograde  force,  and  primitive  superstitions, 
more  grotesque  and  idiotic  than  any  mentioned  in 
ancient  history,  dominate  the  minds  of  large  classes  of 
our  population.  Why  should  they  be  vilified  and  abused, 
buflfeted  and  contumeliously  entreated,  by  press  and 
pulpit,  for  that  which  is  their  misfortune  and  not  their 
fault?  They  are  availing  themselves  of  the  law  of 
suggestion  in  healing  their  sick  and  afflicted,  and  they 
are  doing  it  in  a  way  that  is  perfectly  adapted  to  their 
grade  of  intelligence.  They  heal  many,  and  their  re¬ 
ligion  stands  the  test  of  quantitative  analysis. 


XIII 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN 


NO  one  will  dispute  the  proposition  that  the 
trend  of  modern  science  is  in  the  direction 
of  demonstrating  that  whatever  happens  in 
this  world  is  brought  about  in  accordance  with  natural 
law. 

In  other  words,  it  is  the  province  of  science  to  re¬ 
move  every  event  from  the  realm  of  the  supernatural, 
and  to  demonstrate  that  God  created  and  rules  this 
universe  by  and  through  the  operation  of  immutable 
laws,  which  were  implanted  in  matter  and  spirit  from 
the  beginning. 

It  is  a  self-evident  proposition  that  science  does  far 
more  reverence  to  God  in  thus  ascribing  to  Him  such 
a  power  and  such  an  intelligence,  than  does  super¬ 
stition  in  believing  Him  to  labor  under  the  necessity 
of  supplementing  His  work  by  special  creations  and 
miraculous  interventions. 

That  the  triumphs  of  science  in  this  direction  have 
been  many  and  important,  no  one  will  deny.  That  it 
has  been  opposed  at  every  step  in  its  progress  by  theo¬ 
logical  dogmatism  is  current  history.  The  reason  is 
obvious.  When  science  first  declared  its  independence, 
it  was  denounced  as  atheistic,  and  it  was  persecuted 
accordingly.  So  great  was  the  antagonism  at  first  that 
it  was  tacitly  understood  for  a  long  time  that  science 
was  opposed  to  religion ;  and  it  was  many  years  before 


304 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


any  one  seriously  thought  that  there  could  be  any  har¬ 
monious  relations  between  them. 

Gradually,  however,  it  has  dawned  upon  the  contest¬ 
ing  parties  that  the  conflict  is  not  between  science  and 
religion,  but  between  science  and  theological  dogma¬ 
tism.  With  this  understanding,  the  relation  of  science 
to  the  Church  has,  within  a  few  years,  undergone  a 
decided  change. 

The  great  body  of  the  intelligent  members  of  the 
Church  no  longer  hold  themselves  in  antagonism  to  the 
essential  claims  of  science ;  and  science  no  longer 
disputes  the  essential  tenets  of  the  Christian  religion. 
One  by  one  the  points  have  been  yielded,  until  there  are 
but  few  essential  features  of  difference  in  dispute. 

The  miracles  were  the  last  to  yield.  For  many  years 
they  have  been  the  stumbling-block;  and  they  would 
doubtless  have  continued  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  full 
acceptance  of  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity  had  not 
science  itself  been  able  to  demonstrate  the  fact  that 
the  phenomena  which  were  supposed  to  have  been  pro¬ 
duced  by  miraculous  power  are  clearly  within  the  do¬ 
main  of  natural  law. 

And  now  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  it  has  dawned  upon  the  world  that  Jesus  never 
claimed  that  he  could  perform  a  miracle.  That  is  to 
say,  he  never  claimed  that  he  transcended  natural  law 
in  performing  his  wonderful  works.  On  the  contrary, 
he  gave  us  to  know,  by  word  and  deed,  that  he  al¬ 
ways  acted  strictly  within  the  law.  In  point  of  fact, 
history  and  science  unite  in  showing  that  Jesus  was 
the  first  discoverer  of  the  great  law  under  which  he 
wrought  his  wonders,  and  which  has  but  recently  been 
rediscovered. 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  305 

Science  and  the  Church  are,  therefore,  now  in  prac¬ 
tical  accord  on  this  great  question. 

But  there  is  another  stumbling-block  which  the 
Church  has  not  been  disposed  to  yield,  and  which 
science  has  thus  far  refused  to  accept  and  failed  to 
explain.  I  refer  to  prophecy  in  general  and  Messianic 
prophecies  in  particular. 

I  scarcely  need  to  say  to  you  that  prophecy,  as  the 
term  is  generally  understood,  cannot  be  admitted  among 
the  verities.  It  is  generally  understood  and  defined  as 
a  prediction  made  under  the  immediate  influence  and 
inspiration  of  God.  As  this  implies  a  miraculous  inter¬ 
vention  of  divine  power,  science,  of  course,  cannot  rec¬ 
ognize  or  deal  with  it  in  the  absence  of  such  proofs  as 
are  required  under  the  strict  rules  of  induction. 

Nevertheless  the  belief  that  there  exists,  somewhere, 
the  power  to  make  inerrant  predictions  is  astonishingly 
prevalent,  even  among  those  who  regard  themselves  as 
altogether  too  scientific  to  believe  in  special  interpo¬ 
sitions  of  Divine  Providence  in  the  affairs  of  mankind. 

In  strict  justice  to  everybody  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  are  thousands  of  things  happening  every  day, 
and  have  been  happening  for  thousands  of  years,  that 
have  never  yet  been  accounted  for;  and  many  of  them 
seem  to  point  unmistakably  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
faculty  of  inerrant  prophecy  exists.  Ultra  scientists, 
as  usual,  content  themselves  with  a  wholesale  denial 
of  the  facts.  Others  believe  the  facts  and  account  for 
them  on  the  theory  of  immediate  divine  inspiration. 
Which  of  these  two  classes  is  the  less  scientific  it  is 
difficult  to  say. 

Another  class  believes  the  facts  and  denies  the  in¬ 
spiration,  but  proceeds  to  account  for  them  on  grounds 


20 


3o6 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


less  tenable,  if  possible,  than  either  of  the  others.  A 
large  number  of  this  class  hold  that,  in  some  unac¬ 
countable  way,  spirits  of  the  dead  come  into  possession 
of  a  knowledge  of  all  things,  past,  present,  and  future 
—  especially  of  the  future.  Others,  who  are  inclined  to 
be  extremely  scientific,  without  reference  to  facts  upon 
which  to  base  their  propositions,  tell  us  that  Time  is 
merely  a  mode  of  finite  thought;  that  it  really  has  no 
existence  in  point  of  fact ;  that  past,  present,  and  future 
events  are  somehow  mixed  and  jumbled  up  in  one 
eternal  Now;  and  that  all  that  is  necessary  to  consti¬ 
tute  a  true  prophet  is  the  ability  to  tell  which  is  which. 
The  same  brand  of  philosophers  also  tell  us  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  space ;  and  the  ablest  of  them  — 
that  is  those  possessing  the  greatest  ability  to  pervert 
the  plain  facts  of  nature  —  insist  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  matter.  In  other  and  plainer  words,  they  hold 
that  this  beautiful  world,  with  all  its  rich  varieties  of 
land  and  sea,  hills  and  dales,  mountains  and  valleys, 
rivers  and  lakes,  trees,  birds,  and  flowers,  together  with 
the  grand  and  glorious  universe  around  us,  constitute 
one  stupendous,  cosmic  lie.  Vvflth  them  the  heavens 
do  not  declare  the  glory  of  God,  nor  does  the  firmament 
show  forth  His  handiwork.  On  the  contrary,  their 
philosophy  teaches  us  that  the  heavens  are  grand  illu¬ 
sions,  instituted  on  a  cosmic  scale,  for  no  conceivable 
object  whatever  save  to  delude  and  destroy  men  who 
do  not  exist.  The  people  who  believe  these  things  also 
believe  themselves  to  be  “  scientists.” 

Now  no  one  needs  to  be  told  that  true  science  deals 
largely  with  just  those  things  —  matter,  space,  and  time. 
As  to  time,  and  the  human  events  occurring  in  it,  we 
can  take  cognizance  of  but  three  grand  divisions,  namely, 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  307 

past,  present,  and  future.  Of  the  past  we  can  be  reason¬ 
ably  certain  through  memory.  Of  the  present  we  know 
through  consciousness.  But  of  the  future,  no  absolute 
knowledge  can  be  claimed,  save  of  those  events  in  the 
physical  universe  which  are  governed  by  mathematical 
law.  Nor  can  the  possibility  be  admitted  that  absolute 
knowledge  of  future  human  events  is  within  the  range  of 
the  powers  of  the  human  intellect.  Please  to  remember 
that  I  use  the  word  “  absolute  ”  in  its  strictest  sense,  as 
unrelated,  unconditioned. 

Nevertheless  there  are  numerous  and  well-authenti¬ 
cated  instances  of  prophecy  or  prevision  in  modern 
times  which  it  is  the  duty  of  science,  or  of  scientists, 
to  account  for,  instead  of  taking  refuge  behind  an 
assumed  skepticism. 

But  as  no  one  has  ever  attempted  an  explanation  in 
harmony  with  known  laws  of  nature,  I  shall  beg  your 
indulgence  while  I  make  an  attempt  to  do  so. 

Leaving  the  Messianic  prophecies  out  of  consid¬ 
eration  for  the  moment,  I  remark  that  there  are  two 
classes  of  previsions  to  deal  with.  The  first  embraces 
those  cases  where  a  specific  event  is  predicted  for  the 
near  future ;  but  in  relation  to  which  there  is  a  pre¬ 
existent  fact  which,  if  known  to  the  one  who  made  the 
prediction,  would  take  the  case  out  of  the  category  of 
previsions.  Thus,  if  I  predict  that  John  Smith  is  going 
to  New  York  to-morrow,  when  in  fact  he  has  no 
present  intention  to  go  there  inside  of  a  month ;  and  if 
he  should  receive,  later,  a  telegram  from  that  city  an¬ 
nouncing  the  dangerous  illness  of  a  member  of  his  family 
and  requiring  his  immediate  attendance,  he  would  doubt¬ 
less  regard  it  as  a  wonderful  case  of  genuine  prevision. 
But  if  it  should  transpire  that  I  had  previous  knowledge 


3o8  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

that  such  a  telegram  had  been  sent,  he  would  regard  it 
as  a  very  commonplace  case  of  fraud  or  false  pretence. 

But  suppose  he  was  in  consultation  with  a  psychic,  — 
a  spirit  medium  so  called,  and  conseqrtently  a  mind 
reader.  Then  suppose  that  said  medium  possessed  no 
knowledge  whatever,  obtainable  through  sensory  chan¬ 
nels,  of  the  sickness  or  of  the  telegram.  It  is,  never¬ 
theless,  within  easy  range  of  possibility  for  the  medium 
to  obtain  the  knowledge  of  the  facts  by  means  of  tele¬ 
pathy.  That  is  to,  say,  the  sitter  is  in  constant  tele¬ 
pathic  rapport  wnth  his  own  family.  But  telepathy  is 
exclusively  a  faculty  of  the  subjective  mind.  Conse¬ 
quently,  not  being  a  psychic,  the  sitter  receives  the 
information  unconsciously  to  his  objective  senses.  The 
medium,  however,  being  a  psychic,  reads  the  contents 
of  the  sitter’s  subjective  mind;  and  thus  obtains  the 
data  for  the  prediction.  In  the  meantime,  if  the  medium 
courts  prophetic  honors,  she  simply  prophesies  that  the 
sitter  will  go  to  New  York  on  the  following  day. 

Here  I  must  pause  to  invite  your  attention  to  a 
very  curious  and  interesting  phase  of  this  class  of 
phenomena.  They  are  exceedingly  flexible  and  are 
adapted  to  various  uses.  They  can  be  fitted  to  all 
forms  of  belief,  and  they  can  be  made  to  suit  all 
customers. 

I  have  said  that  if  the  medium  poses  as  a  prophet 
she  simply  predicts  that  her  sitter  will  go  to  New  York 
on  the  day  following.  That  is  prophecy,  —  medium- 
istic  prophecy. 

If  she  poses  as  a  spirit  medium,  she  tells  her  sitter 
that  the  spirits  say  that  his  wife  is  very  sick  and  wants 
him  to  come  home  immediately.  That  is  spiritism. 

If  she  chooses  to  claim  to  be  divinely  inspired,  she 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  309 

tells  her  sitter  that  the  Lord  has  spoken  to  her,  saying: 
“Tell  the  young  man  to  arise  quickly  and  go  hence; 
for  his  wife,  who  sojourneth  in  Gotham,  yea,  even  the 
greater  Gotham,  is  sick  unto  death.”  That  is  inspiration. 

If  the  medium  poses  as  a  clairvoyant,  she  tells  the 
sitter  that  she  sees  a  letter  or  a  telegram  on  the  way  from 
New  York  containing  news  that  his  wife  is  sick.  That 
is  clairvoyance. 

If  she  seeks  fame  as  a  clairaudient,  she  tells  her 
sitter  that  she  hears  the  voice  of  his  wife  calling  him 
to  come  to  her,  for  she  is  sick.  That  is  clairaudience. 

If  she  poses  as  an  astrologist,  she  casts  the  sitter’s 
horoscope,  and  declares  that  the  stars  indicate  the 
serious  illness  of  a  member  of  his  family  on  the  current 
date,  and  a  consequent  hasty  journey  on  his  part.  That 
is  astrology. 

If  she  is  a  gypsy  fortune-teller,  she  looks  in  the 
sitter’s  hand,  or  shuffles  a  pack  of  greasy  cards,  and 
tells  him  that  he  is  about  to  take  a  long  journey  on  very 
important  business;  and  if  he  will  give  her  another 
dollar,  she  will  tell  him  all  about  it.  That  is  fortune¬ 
telling. 

But  if  the  psychic  seeks  telepathic  honors,  she  just 
simply  tells  the  truth,  and  informs  her  sitter  that  she 
reads  in  his  subjective  mind  a  message  from  his  wife, 
announcing  her  illness  and  desiring  his  immediate  re¬ 
turn  home.  That  is  telepathy.  And  that  is  the  truth ; 
for  that  is  the  simple  explanation  of  the  phenomenon. 
In  each  of  the  cases  mentioned,  the  explanation  is  the 
same.  The  classification,  therefore,  either  as  a  prophecy, 
a  spirit  communication,  a  telepathic  message,  or  what 
not,  depends  entirely  upon  what  the  particular  psychic 
happens  to  think  or  say  about  it.  And  that  obviously 


310  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

depends  upon  the  suggestions  embraced  in  her  education. 
If  she  believes  it  to  be  a  telepathic  message  she  declares 
it  to  be  that  and  nothing  more.  If  she  poses  as  a  pro¬ 
phetess,  she  makes  a  prediction  based  upon  the  infor¬ 
mation  received  telepathically. 

But  it  is  not  prophecy  in  any  true  sense  of  the  word; 
for  it  is  based  upon  a  fact,  known  to  the  psychic,  which 
must  inevitably  lead  to  the  event  predicted.  But  it  is  a 
typical  case  of  modern  prophecy.  And  I  undertake  to 
say  that  ninety-nine  one-hundredths  of  all  the  marvellous 
cases  of  correct  predictions  —  many  of  which  are  well 
authenticated  —  can  be  traced  to  telepathy  as  the  source 
of  positive  information  regarding  the  subject  matter 
of  the  supposed  prophecy.  And  thus  it  happens  that  in 
these  days  of  spirit  mediums,  fortune-tellers,  clairvoy¬ 
ants,  magicians,  and  mahatmas,  the  supply  of  prophecy 
is  more  nearly  equal  to  the  demand  than  ever  before. 
But  it  keeps  them  all  busy  ministering  to  the  insatiable 
cravings  of  those  strenuous  souls  who  are  either  long¬ 
ing  for  husbands  or  yearning  to  get  rid  of  them. 

There  is  another  class  of  cases  which  are  a  trifle 
more  obscure,  and  which  have  been  held  up  as  inex¬ 
plicable  under  the  telepathic  theory. 

I  will  trouble  you  with  one,  because  a  certain  great 
and  famous  London  editor,  whom  you  all  know  by 
reputation,  has  given  it  to  me  as  a  case  which  tele¬ 
pathy  cannot  account  for.  He  had  criticised  my  first 
published  work  —  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena 
—  because  I  omitted  to  explain  prophecy  under  the 
terms  of  my  hypothesis.  It  is  true  that  I  omitted  it, 
but  I  did  so  for  the  simple  reason  that  I  had  not  at  the 
time  any  cases  sufficiently  well  authenticated  to  warrant 
me  in  treating  the  subject  from  a  scientific  standpoint. 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  31I 

The  case  related  is  briefly  this :  The  editor,  in  com¬ 
pany  with  a  lady,  visited  a  psychic  —  a  so-called  spirit 
medium.  In  the  course  of  the  seance,  the  psychic 
prophesied  that  the  lady  would  visit  America  within  a 
few  months.  The  lady  protested  that  such  an  event  was 
impossible  within  the  time  given.  Nevertheless  she  did 
visit  America  within  the  time.  She  was  suddenly  and 
unexpectedly  called  to  visit  the  bedside  of  a  very  sick 
mother. 

What  is  the  explanation?  The  great  editor  could 
find  none  outside  of  spirit  intercourse,  or  a  divine  power 
of  knowing  the  future. 

The  telepathic  explanation  is,  in  his  mind,  clearly  out 
of  the  question.  To  my  mind  the  phenomenon  is  clearly 
and  easily  explicable  under  the  telepathic  hypothesis. 
Let  us  see. 

If  there  is  anything  about  telepathy  that  is  more  clearly 
established  than  anything  else,  it  is  that  near  relatives, 
especially  parents  and  children,  are  constantly  in  tele¬ 
pathic  rapport  with  each  other,  especially  when  one  or 
the  other  is  sick  or  threatened  with  illness  or  other 
disaster.  It  is  equally  well  established  that  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  of  each  individual  has  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  the  conditions  of  the  body  which  it  inhabits.  This 
being  true,  it  follows  that  when  the  seeds  of  disease 
are  in  the  system,  the  subjective  mind  is  aware  of  the 
fact,  and  it  can  easily  foresee  the  time  of  probable 
culmination  in  serious  illness.  This  information  is 
naturally  conveyed  to  those  who  are  interested,  and  it 
thus  becomes  a  part  of  their  subjective  mental  equip¬ 
ment.  If  they  do  not  happen  to  be  psychics  themselves, 
that  knowledge  is  unconsciously  possessed ;  and  is  only 
revealed  to  their  normal  consciousness  when  they  come 


312 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


in  contact  with  a  psychic.  Then,  as  I  have  before 
remarked,  if  the  psychic  is  ambitious  of  prophetic 
honors,  she  prophesies  whatever  event  is  sure  to  fol¬ 
low,  without  divulging  the  fact  that  leads  her  to  that 
conclusion. 

These  predictions,  however,  can  in  no  wise  be  des¬ 
ignated  as  prophecies,  —  scarcely  as  previsions.  They 
are  simply  predictions  based  upon  knowledge  of  proxi¬ 
mate  and  entirely  adequate  causes. 

No  matter  how  that  knowledge  is  obtained,  whether 
by  a  previous  inspection  of  family  records  and  tomb¬ 
stones,  or  by  means  of  telepathy,  the  mystery  is  dis¬ 
pelled  the  moment  it  is  known  that  the  alleged  prophet 
is  in  possession  of  that  knowledge. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  the  cases  thus  far  mentioned  it 
does  not  require  even  good  judgment  to  make  an  abso¬ 
lutely  correct  prediction.  It  requires  only  the  simple 
power  of  mind-reading  to  ascertain  the  governing  fact. 
Thus  far  no  other  power  of  the  subjective  mind  is 
brought  into  requisition. 

I  now  approach  another  class  of  previsions  that  rest 
upon  a  far  different  foundation.  I  will  premise  by 
saying  that  there  is  nothing  miraculous  about  prophecy. 
It  simply  calls  into  exercise  certain  inherent  faculties 
of  the  human  soul.  It  transcends  no  law.  On  the 
contrary,  like  every  other  power  on  this  earth,  or  in 
the  heavens  above,  or  in  the  waters  under  the  earth, 
it  operates  strictly  within  the  limits  of  natural  law.  It 
neither  annihilates  nor  transcends  any  of  the  three 
eternal  verities,  —  matter,  space,  or  time.  Nothing  can 
transcend  these.  Every  phenomenon  that  is  tangible 
to  the  senses  is  manifested  through  matter.  All  things 
exist  in  space.  Time  is  simply  the  fact  of  continuous 


PROPHECY,  AHCIEHT  AND  MODERN  313 

or  successive  existence.  Its  three  grand  divisions  are, 
the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future;  and  these  furnish 
the  sphere  of  all  activities  and  events,  finite  or  infinite. 
No  one  of  the  three  can  take  the  place  of  either  of  the 
others  or  be  confounded  with  it. 

It  is  a  maxim  of  logic  that  whatever  is  self-evident 
requires  no  proof.  That  the  existence  of  matter  is  self- 
evident,  no  one  but  a  metaphysician  will  pretend  to 
deny.  Moreover,  science  tells  us  that  matter  is  in¬ 
destructible.  It  can  be  changed  in  form  but  not 
destroyed. 

Space  is  another  self-evident  fact ;  and  the  normal 
mind  cannot  so  much  as  conceive  the  possibility  that 
there  exists  any  power  that  can  annihilate  it ;  or  that 
anything  can  exist  except  in  space. 

Time  is  another  of  the  self-evident,  eternal  verities. 
It  requires  no  proofs  to  demonstrate  its  objective  reality. 
But  if  proofs  were  necessary,  the  Creator  Himself  has 
supplied  them ;  for  the  starry  heavens  constitute  one 
stupendous,  cosmic  horologe,  which  marks  the  grand 
succession  of  events,  human  and  divine. 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  the  past,  present,  and 
future  are  not  interchangeable.  It  follows  that  nothing 
can  be  positively  known  except  the  past  and  the  present. 
It  would  require  a  miracle  to  give  one  absolute,  uncon¬ 
ditioned  knowledge  of  future  events ;  for  there  is  and 
can  be  no  law  of  the  mind  that  would  enable  one  to 
cognize  that  which  does  not  exist. 

It  involves  an  absolute  contradiction  as  gross  and 
palpable  as  it  would  be  to  suppose  that  God  could  make 
a  three-year-old  horse  in  a  minute. 

Nevertheless  man  has  a  means  of  knowing  the  future. 
Thus  in  the  physical  sciences,  when  we  once  know  the 


314  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

law  governing  a  subject  matter  of  inquiry,  we  can  pre¬ 
dict  the  future  with  unerring  certainty.  For  instance, 
when  the  laws  governing  planetary  motion  were  discov¬ 
ered,  astronomers  were  enabled  to  foretell  the  eclipses 
and  other  stellar  events  with  mathematical  exactitude. 
But  this  is  not  prophecy  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are 
considering  the  term.  We  are  considering  human 
events,  and  they  are  not  governed  by  mathematical 
laws.  If  they  were,  man  would  not  be  a  free  moral 
agent.  Being  a  free  moral  agent  he  is  at  liberty  to 
choose  the  wrong  instead  of  the  right.  He  has  it  in  his 
power  either  to  violate  every  law  of  nature  or  to  place 
himself  in  harmony  therewith,  just  as  he  sees  fit. 

Nevertheless  he  is  governed  by  law.  He  is  governed 
by  the  laws  of  his  physical  being,  the  laws  of  mind  and 
soul,  and  by  the  laws  of  progressive  development  of  the 
mental,  moral,  and  spiritual  nature  of  mankind.  More¬ 
over,  whatever  the  segregated  individual  may  do  as  an 
independent  entity,  mankind  considered  en  masse  and 
by  great  epochs  or  dispensations,  is  governed  by  natural 
laws  that  operate  with  absolute  certainty  of  ultimate 
results.  It  will  readily  be  seen,  therefore,  that  previsions 
may  be  predicated  upon  such  laws  with  a  great  degree 
of  moral  certainty  of  ultimate  fulfilment. 

Now  the  great  question  is,  what  faculties  of  the  mind 
are  brought  into  requisition  in  making  an  inerrant 
prophecy?  I  will  answer  that  question  by  first  defining 
prophecy  as  I  understand  it. 

A  prophecy  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  statement 
of  the  conclusions  derived  from  reasoning  from  cause 
to  effect.  In  other  words,  an  inerrant  prophecy  is  a 
logical  conclusion  derived  from  a  correct  premise.  That 
premise  may  consist  of  a  known  fact  or  a  known  law. 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  315 

or  of  the  two  combined.  But  there  must  be  one  or  the 
other.  The  prophetic  mind  must  have  data  from  which 
to  deduce  conclusions  as  to  future  events,  precisely  as 
ordinary,  every-day  mortals  search  for  ordinary,  every¬ 
day  truth. 

It  follows  that  the  prophetic  potential  resides,  to  a 
limited  extent,  in  the  objective,  reasoning  mind.  I  have 
already  remarked  that  in  the  domain  of  the  physical 
sciences,  inerrant  predictions  as  to  future  events  are 
common.  It  is  also  true  that  the  highly  cultivated  ob¬ 
jective  mind  is  equal  to  a  very  high  order  of  previsions 
regarding  human  events. 

A  striking  instance  of  this  occurred  some  years  before 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Many  will  remember  the 
cry  of  incredulity  and  indignation  which  went  up  from 
all  over  the  land  when  William  H.  Seward  declared  that 
there  is  a  “  higher  law  than  the  Constitution  ” ;  that 
an  “  irrepressible  conflict  ”  was  then  going  on  between 
“  opposing  and  enduring  forces  ”  —  freedom  and  slav¬ 
ery  —  and  that  a  crisis  was  already  impending  which 
would  decide  the  question  forever. 

This  fulmination  comprised  the  conclusions  derived 
from  a  long  and  earnest  inductive  study  of  the  situation. 
It  was  derided  at  the  time  as  a  wild,  fanatical  dream. 
But  when,  two  short  years  later,  the  first  gun  was  fired 
on  Sumter,  Seward  was  hailed  as  a  prophet. 

It  will  also  be  remembered  that  when  that  event 
occurred,  Mr.  Seward  predicted  that  the  war  would  be 
over  in  ninety  days.  Some  of  Mr.  Seward’s  admirers, 
referring  to  the  first  prediction,  went  so  far  as  to  de¬ 
clare  him  to  be  an  inspired  prophet.  But  the  two  pre¬ 
dictions  simply  exhibit  the  marked  contrast  between  his 
sagacity  as  a  politician,  and  his  weakness  as  a  military 
man.  He  was  a  statesman,  but  not  a  soldier. 


3i6  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  a  very  high  degree  of 
prophetic  power  resides  in  the  objective  mind;  and 
that  the  only  faculties  called  into  requisition  are  those 
of  pure  reason,  based  on  an  intelligent  observation  of 
facts. 

Inerrant  prophecy,  therefore,  in  the  sense  in  which 
we  have  been  considering  it,  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  the  result  of  good  judgment.  By  good  judgment, 
I  mean  the  power  to  deduce  correct  conclusions  from 
given  premises. 

It  now  remains  to  consider  prophecy  in  its  higher 
aspects ;  that  is,  prophecies  which  call  into  exercise  the 
faculties  of  the  subjective  mind. 

In  these  the  same  steps  are  necessary,  namely,  first 
acquiring  the  data,  and  second,  exercising  the  faculty 
of  deduction.  As  this  faculty  is  potentially  perfect 
in  the  subjective  mind,  it  is  obvious  that  marvellous  re¬ 
sults  are  possible.  And  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
faculty  of  intuitive  perception  also  belongs  to  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind,  it  becomes  evident  that  the  prophetic  power 
of  the  soul  is  practically  unlimited.  It  is  in  fact  limited 
only  by  the  laws  under  which  it  performs  its  functions. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  the  sources 
from  whence  the  subjective  mind  may  acquire  its  data 
are  limited  to  the  intuitional  faculty.  The  province  of 
intuition  is  that  of  general  laws  or  first  principles.  But 
the  data  from  which  the  subjective  mind  draws  its 
prophetic  conclusions  are  not  limited  to  these.  It  may 
also  acquire  particular  facts,  or  even  general  laws,  from 
the  researches  of  the  objective  mind ;  and,  as  its  memory 
is  absolute,  it  possesses  in  that  alone  a  vast  storehouse 
of  available  data  from  which  to  draw  prophetic  de¬ 
ductions. 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  317 

It  is  frequently  impossible  in  particular  cases  of  mod¬ 
ern  prophecy  to  know  just  what  is  the  quality  and 
character  of  the  data  relied  upon.  Sometimes,  however, 
we  can  afterwards  see  the  process  clearly  defined.  Thus, 
in  1803,  a  celebrated  Quaker  preacher,  named  Joseph 
Hoag,  who  was  also  a  psychic,  published  a  prophecy 
in  which  he  predicted  a  schism  in  the  various  churches 
of  the  United  States,  including  his  own. 

He  also  prophesied  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question,  its  entrance  into  politics,  the  consequent  civil 
war,  resulting  in  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  Quakers 
believe  him  to  have  been  directly  inspired  by  God  Him¬ 
self.  They  can  see  no  other  way  to  account  for  it. 

It  is  clear  that  the  unaided  reasoning  powers  of  man¬ 
kind  were,  at  that  date,  unequal  to  such  a  prevision.  At 
least  no  one  in  his  normal  condition  made  this  pre¬ 
diction.  But  this  obscure  preacher,  while  in  a  trance 
or  a  tranceoid  condition,  was  enabled  to  make  a  pre¬ 
diction,  the  literal  fulfilment  of  which  to-day  fills  the 
minds  of  his  people  with  reverential  awe. 

What  fact  he  may  have  been  cognizant  of  that  enabled 
him  to  predict  a  schism  in  his  own  church,  I  know  not. 
But  it  is  now  clear  that  one  event  which  was  then  sure 
to  happen  in  the  near  future,  was  amply  sufficient  to 
release  the  forces  which  inevitably  brought  about  the 
fulfilment  of  his  prophecy.  That  event  was  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  the  slave  trade,  the  Constitutional  limitation  of 
which  was  to  expire  in  1808.  Slavery  was  already 
practically  confined  to  the  South.  It  was  unprofitable 
in  the  North,  and  hence  its  gradual  abolition  there  had 
been  provided  for.  This  was  current  history.  The 
psychic  also  knew  the  stern,  uncompromising  devotion 
of  the  New  England  character  to  the  cause  of  human 


3i8 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


liberty,  its  hatred  of  oppression,  its  pious  regard  for 
the  natural  rights  of  man ;  and  he  foresaw  that  these 
qualities  would  shine  forth  with  renewed  lustre  and  be¬ 
come  an  aggressive  force  in  the  New  England  political 
character  just  as  soon  as  a  cargo  of  New  England  rum 
could  no  longer  be  profitably  bartered  for  a  cargo  of 
African  slaves.  It  was  also  natural  that  when  the  con¬ 
troversy  was  once  begun,  the  churches  would  be  the 
first  to  divide;  that  intense  sectionalism  was  sure  to 
follow,  with  all  its  train  of  prejudices,  hatred,  con¬ 
tumely,  hysteria,  and  violence,  culminating  in  the  total 
destruction  of  the  cause  of  the  controversy,  and  placing 
the  United  States  where  she  properly  belongs  —  in  the 
van  of  human  progress.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
whilst  the  prophecy  of  this  obscure  psychic  preacher 
antedated  that  of  Mr.  Seward  by  more  than  half  a 
century,  and  was  infinitely  more  specific  as  to  detail, 
it  was  equally  exact,  and  its  fulfilment  involved  the 
greatest  tragedy  of  modern  history.  It  is,  however, 
but  a  feeble  illustration  of  the  vast  difference  in  the 
deductive  powers  of  the  two  minds.  That  difference 
can  be  appreciated  only  when  we  come  to  consider  the 
Messianic  prophecies. 

But  it  may  be  here  remarked,  the  fact  that  the  sub¬ 
jective  mind  has  intuition  from  which  to  draw  its  argu¬ 
ments,  and  that  this  faculty  is  potentially  perfect,  easily 
accounts  for  the  marvellously  correct  deductions  which 
in  all  human  history,  sacred  and  profane,  have  been 
recorded  under  the  name  of  prophecy.  It  is  prophecy, 
in  the  highest  and  the  noblest  sense  of  the  term ;  for  it 
is  the  foreseeing  and  foretelling  of  future  events  under 
and  by  virtue  of  the  immutable  laws  of  God. 

Now  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  special  province 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  319 

of  intuition  is  the  laws  which  govern  the  being  and 
destiny  of  the  human  soul.  In  animals  and  primitive 
man  it  is  known  as  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  — 
pertaining  solely  to  the  safety  and  development  of  the 
body  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  species.  As  objective 
reason  developed,  it  took  the  place  of  the  purely  animal 
instinct  to  a  great  extent,  in  matters  of  this  world,  and 
the  latter  developed  into  the  higher  form  of  intuition. 
Being  a  faculty  of  the  soul  its  higher  manifestations 
pertain  to  the  soul.  It  is  not  exempt  from  the  law  of 
suggestion ;  but  in  the  absence  of  suggestion  it  performs 
its  highest  functions  untrammelled.  Hence  it  was  that 
before  the  days  of  philosophic  doubts  and  scientific 
skepticism,  intuition  laid  the  foundation  for  the  grand 
superstructure  of  modern  civilization. 

Misinterpreted  though  it  has  been,  even  by  its  most 
devout  adherents,  the  fact  still  remains  that  the  Bible 
contains  the  natural  history  of  the  human  soul.  Mis¬ 
understood  as  have  been  the  phenomena  therein  re¬ 
corded,  even  by  those  who  experienced  them,  it  still 
remains  that  they  constituted  the  necessary  steps  in  the 
evolution  of  the  religion  absolute. 

The  first  great  step  in  that  direction  was  taken  when 
the  monotheistic  idea  was  evolved  from  the  inner  con¬ 
sciousness  of  the  earliest  Jewish  prophet.  That  the 
idea  of  one  living  God  was  an  intuitive  perception  is 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  suggestion  could  not  have 
emanated  from  any  of  the  polytheistic,  idolatrous  peoples 
with  whom  the  Jews  were  in  contact.  It  was  an  original 
conception,  and,  crude  though  it  was  in  its  inception, 
it  was  the  immortal  germ  of  a  great  truth. 

1  It  was  inevitable  that  the  idea  should  be  limited  and 
perverted  by  the  suggestions  embraced  in  the  religions 


320 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


of  the  surrounding  nations.  Each  had  its  own  gods, 
and  there  were  enough  of  them,  such  as  they  were.  It 
was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  one  God  of  Israel  should 
be  their  God  exclusively,  —  a  tribal  God.  It  required 
many  years  of  progressive  development  to  expand  the 
original  monotheistic  conception  so  far  as  to  embrace 
all  humanity.  Isaiah,  I  believe,  was  the  first  to  proclaim 
the  broad  intuition.  I  say  “  intuition,”  for  it  could  have 
been  nothing  less,  since  it  was  a  vast  expansion  —  a 
generalization  of  the  limited,  traditional  conception  of 
the  God  of  Israel.  It  remained,  however,  for  the  iner- 
rant  intuitions  of  Jesus  to  dispel  the  anthropomorphic 
conceptions  of  the  earlier  prophets  and  to  give  to  the 
world  its  first  conception  of  the  living  and  true  God 
of  love,  mercy,  and  benevolence,  the  loving  Father  of 
all  humanity.  Moreover,  what  is  of  still  more  pro¬ 
found  significance, '  Jesus  was  the  first  to  proclaim  in 
specific  and  unmistakable  language,  the  two  cognate, 
concomitant  facts  that  we  are  the  sons  of  God,  and 
that  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  within  us.  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  intuitions  of  one  of  the 
earliest  prophets  shadowed  forth  the  same  fact  in  the 
broad  declaration  that  God  created  man  in  Elis  own 
image. 

This  declaration  has  been  scoffed  at  during  all  the 
ages  of  so-called  “  scientific  ”  skepticism,  solely  because 
of  the  anthropomorphic  conceptions  of  its  meaning  by 
the  critics  who  deride  it. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  when  considered  in  its  true  light 
as  referring  to  the  faculties  of  the  soul  instead  of  the 
shape  of  the  body,  the  most  remarkable  instance  re¬ 
corded  in  history  of  a  genuine  intuitive  perception  of  a 
great  and  fundamental  truth.  According  to  Bible  chro- 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  321 

nology,  it  took  nearly  two  thousand  years  of  progressive 
development  of  the  prophetic  faculty  to  produce  a  man 
capable  of  putting  that  intuition  into  words  comprehen¬ 
sible  to  the  objective  mind.  It  has  taken  two  thousand 
years  more  for  the  objective  mind  to  verify  that  intu¬ 
ition  by  the  processes  of  induction.  And  it  is  verified 
and  scientifically  demonstrated  by  a  simple  analysis  of 
the  faculties  of  the  subjective  mind,  —  the  mind  of  the 
soul. 

It  will  be  asked,  in  this  connection,  why  may  not  the 
Mosaic  account  of  Creation  be  accepted  as  scientifically 
correct,  since  the  same  writer  was  responsible  for  both 
the  history  and  the  intuition.  The  obvious  answer  is 
this :  Becaitse  the  province  of  intuition  in  man  is  that  of 
great  general  principles  and  laws  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  universe,  and  not  of  the  specific  facts  and 
events  of  physical  science.  If  men  would  learn  to  make 
this  broad  and  obvious  distinction  they  would  find  no 
difficulty  in  recognizing  the  great  and  fundamental 
truths  of  spiritual  philosophy  with  which  the  Bible  is 
overflowing. 

No  better  illustration  of  this  distinction  and  the  ne¬ 
cessity  of  observing  it  can  be  conceived  than  the  very 
instance  we  are  considering. 

For  here  we  find,  in  one  chapter,  —  the  first  in  the 
Bible,  —  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the  physical 
world  that  no  one  presumes  to  defend  as  scientifically 
possible ;  and  in  the  same  chapter  we  find  a  scientifically 
accurate  statement  of  the  most  stupendous  and  funda¬ 
mental  truth  of  all  that  concerns  the  relations  existent 
between  God  and  man.  Moreover,  it  is  demonstrative 
that  it  was  the  intuition  of  man,  and  not  a  direct  and 
miraculous  inspiration  from  God ;  for  if  it  had  been 


322 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


the  latter  there  could  have  been  no  such  admixture  of 
fundamental  spiritual  truth  and  palpable  physical  error. 

The  great  lesson  that  it  teaches  is  that  God  rules  the 
spiritual  and  the  physical  world  alike  by  and  through 
the  operation  of  natural  law ;  and  that  His  method  of 
inspiration  is  by  implanting  in  the  prim.ordial  germ  the 
seeds  of  the  divine  power  of  intuitive  perception  of 
fundamental  and  essential  truth. 

In  like  manner,  the  Messianic  prophecies  originated 
in  an  intuitive  apprehension  of  certain  principles  of 
natural  law.  With  these  principles  for  a  major  premise, 
the  logical  deductions  were  crystallized  into  a  prophecy 
of  a  coming  leader  whose  voice  the  world  would  hear 
and  obey. 

The  first  prophecy  pointing  unmistakably  in  that 
direction  was  that  of  Moses.  I  shall  be  obliged  to  con¬ 
fine  my  remarks  largely  to  his  prophecies  for  three 
reasons :  first,  for  want  of  time ;  secondly,  because  his 
was  the  most  clear,  concise,  and  direct  to  the  point ;  and 
thirdly,  because  his  was  the  principal  one  bearing  the 
unmistakable  stamp  of  absolute  originality.  Most  of 
the  others,  being  later  productions,  are  obviously  open 
to  the  inference  that  they  may  have  been  inspired  by  that 
of  the  great  law-giver. 

In  order  to  understand  the  prophecy  of  Moses  fully, 
it  is  necessary  to  recall  briefly  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  made.  It  will  also  throw  much  light  upon 
the  prophecies  of  his  successors. 

Moses  was  not  only  a  prophet,  but  a  man  of  affairs. 
If  the  blood  of  kings  did  not  flow  in  his  veins,  he  was 
at  least  born  to  command. 

Educated  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  he  still 
clung  to  the  religion  of  the  Israelites.  His  mind  was 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  323 

filled  with  their  traditions,  and  he  worshipped  the  God 
of  his  fathers.  He  was  the  chosen  leader  of  his  people, 
and  he  had  delivered  them  from  the  house  of  bondage. 
He  had  shown  them  many  signs  and  wonders,  and 
the  covenant  had  been  renewed  amid  the  smoke  and 
the  thunders  of  Sinai.  Their  forty  years’  sojourn  in  the 
wilderness  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  they  were  about 
to  cross  the  Jordan.  He  had  conducted  them  to  the 
threshold  of  the  promised  land,  but  was  himself  pro¬ 
hibited  from  entering.  His  days  were  numbered.  He 
was  preparing  to  ascend  Mount  Pisgah  to  view  from 
afar  the  future  home  of  his  people  and  there  to  close  his 
long  and  eventful  career.  Preparatory  to  this  he  sum¬ 
moned  all  Israel  before  him  upon  the  plains  of  IMoab, 
to  hear  his  final  words  of  counsel  and  to  receive  his  last 
blessing.  Then  followed  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
discourses  that  ever  fell  from  mortal  tongue.  He  began 
by  reviewing  the  principal  events  of  their  long  and 
wearying  journey  through  the  wilderness.  He  re¬ 
counted  their  trials  and  their  triumphs. 

He  recited  many  of  the  rules  of  civil  polity  that  had 
been  enacted  in  the  past.  He  reminded  them  of  the 
covenant  and  of  the  duties  required  of  them  by  its  terms 
and  conditions. 

He  rehearsed  their  rebellions  and  denounced  them 
for  their  disobedience.  He  pronounced  the  direst  curses 
upon  the  wicked  and  rebellious,  but  reminded  them  of 
God’s  mercy  to  the  penitent.  He  gave  them  particular 
directions  for  the  selection  of  a  temporal  leader,  —  the 
election  of  a  king,  —  describing  his  necessary  qualifi¬ 
cations  in  terms  that  should  convey  a  much-needed  les¬ 
son  to  the  people  of  that  country.  He  then  launched 
forth  into  a  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  their  moral 


324  the  evolution  of  the  soul 

and  religious  duties.  He  set  forth  the  status  and  duties 
of  the  priesthood ;  and  warned  the  Israelites  against  the 
immoral  practices  of  the  people  into  whose  country  they 
were  about  to  enter.  He  laid  particular  stress  upon  the 
necessity  for  avoiding  the  practices  of  the  necromancers, 
the  charmers,  the  witches,  the  consulters  of  spirits,  and 
all  other  producers  of  spiritistic  phenomena. 

Having  done  this,  he  proceeded  to  utter  a  prophecy 
that  has  done  more  than  any  other  one  thing  to  shape  the 
destiny,  mould  the  character,  inspire  the  hope,  and  per¬ 
petuate  the  homogeneity  of  the  Jewish  race. 

Nor  is  its  influence  confined  to  that  people;  for  it 
constitutes  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  Christian  faith  in  the 
Divinity  of  Jesus. 

The  words  are  these: 

“  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  Prophet  from 
the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren,  like  unto  me ;  unto  him  ye 
shall  hearken.” 

He  believed  himself  to  be  reiterating  the  very  words 
of  God,  for  he  declared  that  the  Lord  God  said  unto 
him : 

“  I  will  raise  them  up  a  Prophet  from  among  their  brethren, 
like  unto  thee,  and  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth ;  and  he  shall 
speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him. 

I  “  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  whosoever  will  not  hearken 
to  my  words  which  he  shall  speak  in  my  name,  I  will  require  it 
of  him.” 

Here,  then,  is  the  prophecy.  It  is  the  only  one  in  the 
Old  Testament  that  specifically  asserts  the  prophetic 
character  of  the  coming  Messiah.  Was  it  a  special  divine 
inspiration  or  a  deduction  from  a  known  law?  We  are 
logically  bound  to  accept  the  latter  view  if  it  is  found 
to  be  within  the  range  of  the  known  powers  of  the 
human  mind. 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  325 

To  determine  this  question,  we  must  first  refer  to  the 
words  of  the  prophecy:  “A  prophet  like  unto  thee.” 
Not  a  temporal  leader  like  Moses.  Not  a  statesman  like 
Moses.  But  a  prophet  like  Moses.  That  is  to  say,  he 
was  to  be  endowed  with  the  same  intuitional,  prophetic 
powers  that  Moses  possessed,  differing  only  in  degree 
and  not  in  kind ;  emanating  from  the  same  source,  and 
therefore  not  from  a  supernatural  source. 

The  crucial  question  is.  What  data  did  Moses  possess 
from  which  to  deduce  a  conclusion  so  momentous  as 
that  involved  in  the  coming  of  a  Messiah  ?  For  the  fact 
that  Jesus  did  come,  that  he  was  a  prophet  like  unto 
Moses,  —  that  is,  that  he  possessed  the  same  intuitive 
powers,  though  multiplied  a  thousandfold,  —  together 
with  the  historical  fact  that,  because  of  that  and  sub¬ 
sequent  prophecies,  the  children  of  Israel  had  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years  anticipated  his  coming,  invests 
the  question  with  a  scientific  interest  that  cannot  be 
ignored  without  relegating  the  whole  subject  to  the 
domain  either  of  fable  or  of  the  supernatural. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  question  is  easily  answered. 
Moses  was  a  prophet.  That  is  to  say,  he  possessed  the 
power,  in  an  extraordinary  state  of  development,  to 
draw  upon  the  resources  of  his  subjective  mind. 

He  was  a  man  of  education,  and  of  vast  experience. 
He  had  been  accustomed  all  his  life  to  entering  the 
subjective  state,  and  in  that  state  to  entering  into  com¬ 
munion  with  an  intelligence  which  he  believed  to  be  none 
other  than  that  of  God  Himself.  In  that  state,  through 
the  perfect  memory  of  the  subjective  mind,  he  had  at  his 
command  all  the  resources  of  his  learning  and  experi¬ 
ence.  In  that  state,  his  intuitional  powers  were  con¬ 
stantly  active  and  in  evidence.  In  short,  he  was  a  man 


326  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

of  genius;  for  his  reasoning  faculties  were  never  sub¬ 
jugated  to  the  domination  of  the  subjective  intelligence. 
They  acted  in  practically  perfect  synchronism.  This  is 
what,  in  those  days,  constituted  a  true  prophet,  as  dis¬ 
tinguished  from  those  whose  reason  was  dominated  and 
submerged,  and  who  were  known  by  the  name  of  necro¬ 
mancers,  and  consulters  of  familiar  spirits,  otherwise 
spirit  mediums.  Under  the  Mosaic  law  the  latter  were 
punished  by  death. 

These  were  the  powers  that  enabled  Moses  to  cope 
successfully  with  his  environment  during  the  forty 
years  of  his  leadership.  He  was,  of  course,  aware  of 
those  powers,  whatever  may  have  been  his  belief  in 
regard  to  the  immediate  cause  of  their  manifestation. 

Moreover,  he  was  intuitively  aware  of  the  great  law 
of  progressive  evolutionary  development.  He  was, 
aware  from  his  own  experience  that  those  powers  were 
susceptible  of  cultivation;  and  he  knew  the  tendency 
of  the  Jewish  mind  in  that  direction. 

What  data  could  be  required  more  ample  for  the 
purposes  of  his  prophecy  ?  What  visions  the  dying  seer 
may  have  had  of  the  perfection  of  the  powers  of  the 
coming  Prophet,  man  may  not  know.  But  certain  it  is 
that  the  Prophet  did  come,  that  his  utterances  were 
divine,  and  that  his  voice  is  heard  around  the  world. 

Of  the  later  prophecies  little  can  be  said ;  for  it  is 
no  part  of  my  purpose,  in  this  connection,  to  make  an 
exhaustive  analysis  of  the  Messianic  prophecies.  Many 
of  them  were  doubtless  inspired  by  the  example  of 
Moses.  Some  of  them  were  mere  enlargements  of  the 
original,  and  others  ■  entered  into  more  specific  details 
as  to  the  character  and  special  powers  of  the  coming 
Messiah.  But  they  seem  to  have  been  founded  upon 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  327 


facts  that  occurred  subsequent  to  the  days  of  Moses. 
Thus,  some  of  the  prophets  succeeding  Moses  developed 
the  power  to  heal  the  sick;  and  this  may  have  moved 
Isaiah  to  prophesy  that,  when  the  Messiah  should  come, 
the  blind  should  be  made  to  see,  the  deaf  to  hear,  the 
dumb  to  sing,  and  the  lame  to  leap  as  a  hart,  —  a 
prophecy  that  was  literally  fulfilled. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  in  this  connection 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  prophecies  in  the 
Old  Testament.  It  was  that  of  Jeremiah  (xxxi.  31). 
I  have  never  seen  it  classed  as  a  Messianic  prophecy. 
Doubtless  it  is  not  so  classified  for  the  reason  that  it 
does  not  foretell  a  coming  personality.  It  does,  how¬ 
ever,  clearly  foreshadow  the  Christian  dispensation. 
But  even  that  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  great  consum¬ 
mation  which  he  predicted.  It  is  but  the  means  to  the 
great  end  that  he  foresaw.  Moreover,  it  bears  the  un¬ 
mistakable  stamp  of  a  genuine  intuition.  Here  are  the 
words : 

“  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new 
covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of  Judah  : 

“Not  according  to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with  their 
fathers  in  the  day  that  I  took  them  by  the  hand  to  bring  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  •  •  . 

“  But  this  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the 
house  of  Israel ;  After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  /  will  put  7/ty 
law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  itt  their  hearts  j  and  I 
will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people. 

“  And  they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord  ;  for  they  shall  all 
know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the  greatest  of  them,  saith 
the  Lord.” 

Here  are  foretold  or  foreshadowed  three  events  of  the 
greatest  possible  importance  to  mankind.  Two  of  them 
are  distinctly  foretold. 


328 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


First,  the  total  collapse  of  the  Mosaic  system  was  dis¬ 
tinctly  foretold. 

Secondly,  the  Christian  dispensation  was  clearly  fore¬ 
shadowed;  for,  as  we  now  know,  it  was  by  that  alone 
that  it  was  possible  to  supplant  the  Mosaic  system. 

Thirdly,  it  was  distinctly  foretold  that  the  time  would 
come  when  all  men  should  know  the  laws  of  God.  Mark 
the  words :  the  “  law  ”  of  God. 

Not  his  will  merely;  not  his  personal  commands; 
not  his  possible  capricious  decrees ;  but  “  his  lazv.” 

Could  words  more  clearly  demonstrate  the  fact  that 
the  prophet  was  aware  that  God  governs  this  universe 
by  means  of  universal  law ;  and  that  the  time  is  coming 
when  all  men  will  know  that  law?  Man  will  at  least 
know  the  relationship  which  he  sustains  to  God  and  to 
his  fellow-man. 

It  could  have  been  nothing  less  than  an  intuition,  for 
the  great  prophet  had  no  data  save  an  intuitive  per¬ 
ception  of  the  great  law  of  human  progress,  —  the  great 
law  of  evolutionary  development  of  the  human  soul. 
He  had  focussed  in  his  prophetic  eye  a  grand  panoramic 
picture  of  the  three  great  dispensations ;  the  dispensa¬ 
tion  of  Symbols,  which  was  the  dispensation  of  Moses; 
the  dispensation  of  Faith,  which  was  the  dispensation 
of  Jesus;  and  last  of  all  the  promised  dispensation  of 
Knowledge,  which  is  just  dawning  upon  the  human 
race. 

The  Christian  dispensation  was  the  outgrowth  of  the 
Mosaic  in  the  natural  order  of  evolution.  The  latter 
was  the  only  system  then  existent  in  which  Christianity 
could  have  taken  root.  The  germ,  the  life  principle  of 
both,  was  the  monotheistic  idea,  —  the  conception  of  one 
living  God.  The  name  of  the  man  to  whose  intuitive 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  329 

perception  of  truth  the  world  is  indebted  for  that  con¬ 
ception  is  lost  in  the  twilight  of  tradition.  But  we 
know  that  he  must  have  towered  above  his  generation 
like  a  giant  oak  in  a  forest  of  shrubbery. 

Think,  for  a  moment,  what  the  world  owes  to  that 
towering  genius,  whose  intuitive  powers  were  equal  to 
the  apprehension  of  the  one  grand,  fundamental  truth 
which  lies  at  the  basis  alike  of  the  Christian  religion 
and  of  Christian  civilization. 

That  it  was  an  intuition  is  all  but  self-evident ;  for 
science  was  unknown  to  the  Jewish  race  in  those  prim¬ 
itive  times ;  and  the  religions  of  the  surrounding  nations 
ranged  from  Polytheism  to  Fetishism. 

The  original  conception  was  necessarily  anthropo¬ 
morphic,  for  that  is  the  natural  result  of  the  limitations 
of  human  thought  and  language,  especially  of  the  prim¬ 
itive  races.  It  continued  to  be  so  during  all  the  ages 
of  the  Mosaic  dispensation;  and  was  only  elevated  to  its 
present  altitude  by  the  sublime  and  perfect  intuitive 
perception  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

As  the  Christian  dispensation  was  the  evolutionary 
outgrowth  of  the  Mosaic,  so  is  the  dispensation  of 
knowledge  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  Christian  dis¬ 
pensation.  That  is  to  say,  whatever  of  truth  is  known 
in  this  world,  is  inevitably  destined  to  become  better 
and  better  known,  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  progressive 
development  of  the  human  intellect. 

If  there  is  truth  in  Christianity,  therefore,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  world  will  yet  find  a  way  of  demonstrating  that 
truth  by  the  processes  of  induction.  When  that  time 
comes,  then  will  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  be  fulfilled. 
Then  will  the  law  of  God  be  “  ivrittcn  in  the  hearts  ”  of 
all  mankind. 


330  •  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

“  And  they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord  ;  for  they  shall 
all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the  greatest  of  them, 
saith  the  Lord.” 

Christianity  will  then  no  longer  rest  exclusively  upon 
teaching,  or  preaching,  or  faith,  but  upon  absolute, 
scientific  knowledge. 

Jesus  made  the  same  prophecy  in  his  last  interview 
with  his  disciples  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  when 
he  said : 

“  I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now.  Howbeit,  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come,  he 
will  guide  you  into  all  truth.” 

Like  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  this  utterance  was 
prompted  by  an  intuitive  apprehension  of  the  great  law 
of  progressive  development  of  human  reason,  as  well 
as  of  the  faculty  of  intuitive  perception. 

.Each  of  the  apostles  knew  that  eventually  reason 
must  be  appealed  to  and  satisfied  before  mankind  in  gen¬ 
eral  could  be  said  to  have  the  absolute  knowledge  that 
each  foretold  as  the  heritage  of  all  humanity.  And  the 
experience  of  the  nineteenth  century  demonstrates  the 
perfection  of  their  intuitions.  For  we  all  now  know  that 
the  sublimest  intuitions  count  as  nothing  to  the  scien¬ 
tific  mind  in  the  absence  of  the  demonstrations  of 
induction. 

Jesus  especially  had  an  intuitive  comprehension  of  the 
laws  of  the  soul  that  was  far  too  accurate  and  compre¬ 
hensive  to  permit  us  to  suppose  that  he  could  have  pre¬ 
dicted  a  supernatural  communication  of  knowledge. 
The  “  Spirit  of  Truth,”  therefore,  could  have  been  noth¬ 
ing  else  than  the  spirit  of  scientific  investigation,  the 
legitimate  object  of  which  is  “guidance  into  all  truth.” 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  33 1 

It  did  not,  of  course,  exclude  intuition ;  nor  could  it 
exclude  induction.  For  when  the  highly  endowed  intel¬ 
lect  is  in  pursuit  of  truth  with  sincerity  of  purpose,  and 
is  in  the  path  which  leads  to  it,  intuition  and  induction 
mutually  interact.  But  the  most  highly  endowed  mind, 
in  the  path  of  error,  can  never  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
intuitional  perception,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
false  suggestions  of  error  lead  the  subjective  mind 
astray,  and  thus  destroy  its  efficiency.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  great  truth  once  mastered  by  induction  leads 
to  a  thousand  inerrant  intuitions  and  deductions.  Hence 
it  is  that  the  highest  intuitions  of  mankind  are  of  com¬ 
paratively  little  value,  until  they  are  verified  by  induction. 

It  is,  therefore,  by  the  inductive  verification  of  intu¬ 
itional  perceptions  that  mankind,  in  the  language  of 
Jesus,  will  eventually  be  “  guided  into  all  truth.”  It  is 
thus  that  the  laws  of  God,  in  the  language  of  Jeremiah, 
will  be  “  put  into  the  inward  parts,”  and  “  written  in 
the  hearts  ”  of  all  humanity. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Bible  con¬ 
tains  the  only  ancient  record  demonstrative  of  the  ex¬ 
istence,  in  the  soul  of  man,  of  the  inherent  faculty  of 
intuitive  perception  of  truth,  and  the  consequent  power 
of  inerrant  prophecy.  The  grandest  monument  ever 
erected  by  human  hands  has  stood  for  more  than  four 
thousand  years,  bearing  silent  witness'  to  this  stupendous 
fact. 

The  Pyramid  of  Cheops  is  not  only  the  embodiment 
of  symbolized  science,  but  it  is  prophetic  record  of 
human  events,  and  a  demonstration  of  the  God-like 
powers  of  the  human  soul.  Its  outside  measurements 
and  its  proportions  constitute  a  symbolical  epitome  of 
astronomical  science  which  tallies  exactly  with  the  latest 


332 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


modern  scientific  measurements  and  discoveries.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  prophecy ;  for  the  science  of  the  day  on 
which  it  was  built  was  unequal  to  the  correct  measure¬ 
ment  of  any  one  of  the  prime  factors  of  its  size  or  pro¬ 
portions.  The  inside  passages  and  measurements  are 
clearly  prophetic  of  the  evolutionary  development  of 
spiritual  and  intellectual  man.  It  traces  the  course  of 
intellectual  empire  on  its  broad  lines  of  development. 
It  symbolizes  the  three  great  dispensations.  It  is,  there¬ 
fore,  a  Messianic  prophecy,  and  one  that  is  more  clearly 
marked,  especially  as  to  the  element  of  time,  than  any 
prophecy  contained  in  Holy  Writ. 

This  is  a  subject  so  vast,  intricate,  and  interesting, 
that  it  requires  separate  treatment.  I  cannot  refrain, 
however,  from  mentioning  one  fact  in  this  connection, 
Avhich  bears  an  interrelationship  with  one  of  the  Mes¬ 
sianic  prophecies  of  the  Bible;  for  it  seems  to  throw 
some  light  upon  a  passage  that  has  not  been  clearly 
understood. 

In  Psalm  cx.  it  was  prophesied  that  the  coming 
Messiah  would  be  “  a  priest  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chizedek.”  The  Bible  says  very  little  about  this  per¬ 
sonage,  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  King  of  Salem  and 
that  he  and  Abraham  met  in  Palestine.  A  very  plausible 
theory  has  been  promulgated,  showing  that  Melchizedek, 
Job,  and  the  builder  of  the  Great  Pyramid  were  one  and 
the  same  person.  Many  good  and  seemingly  sufficient 
reasons  have  been  given  in  support  of  this  theory.  If  it 
is  correct,  it  reveals  the  reason  why  the  psalmist  looked 
for  a  Messiah  who  would  be  a  “  priest  after  the  order 
of  Melchizedek.”  It  was  natural  for  the  prophets  to 
compare  the  coming  Messiah  with  their  highest  ideals. 
If  Melchizedek  was  the  architect  of  the  pyramid,  he  was 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  333 

necessarily  a  famous  man  in  his  own  country.  He  was 
necessarily  a  worshipper  of  the  one  living  and  true  God ; 
and  his  fame  as  a  prophet  and  a  seer  was  undoubtedly 
traditional  with  the  Israelitish  nation.  This  also  throws 
an  additional  light  upon  the  question  why  it  was  that 
the  Jews  failed  to  recognize  Jesus  as  the  promised 
Messiah.  Moses  had  foretold  the  coming  of  a  prophet 
like  himself ;  and  the  Jews  looked  for  a  great  temporal 
leader,  a  ruler,  a  king. 

The  psalmist  had  prophesied  a  priest  after  the  order 
of  Melchizedek;  and  the  Jews  looked  for  a  Messiah 
who  was  not  only  a  ruler,  but  a  man  of  affairs,  capable 
of  conceiving  and  carrying  out  great  enterprises,  erect¬ 
ing  stupendous  structures,  weighing  the  earth  as  in  a 
balance,  and  timing  the  movements  of  the  planetary 
universe.  All  this  Melchizedek  was  and  did  (if  he  was 
the  builder  of  the  pyramid)  centuries  before  Moses  saw 
the  light ;  milleniums  before  Jesus  was  born. 

!  The  early  prophets,  being  men,  and  guided  solely  by 
their  own  intuitions,  naturally  and  inevitably  chose  their 
highest  ideals  as  their  standard  of  comparison.  Nor 
could  they  conceive  higher  ideals  than  were  exempli¬ 
fied  in  the  sages  and  heroes  of  their  national  traditions. 

The  common  people  naturally  accepted  the  standards 
of  their  great  spiritual  leaders ;  and  hence  they  could 
not  recognize  in  the  meek  and  lowly  Man  of  Peace, 
whose  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  a  more  sublime 
character  than  that  of  Moses  and  Melchizedek  combined. 
Hence  their  refusal  to  follow  in  his  footsteps ;  and 
hence,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  they  have  remained  on  the 
level  upon  which  he  found  them.  All  this  is  symbolized 
in  the  pyramid ;  and  so  is  the  onward  and  upward 
march  of  Christian  civilization ;  and  so  is  the  dispen- 


334  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

sation  of  knowledge  which  both  Jesus  and  Jeremiah 
foretold. 

In  point  of  fact  the  Great  Pyramid  is  a  Messianic 
prophecy  of  a  more  pronounced  character,  more  clear 
in  detail,  and  more  accurate  as  to  time,  than  any  re¬ 
corded  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  remark,  in  this  connection,  that  the  plan  of  the  pyra¬ 
mid  had  its  inception  in  the  intuitions  of  its  architect. 
There  is  no  other  way  to  account  for  it,  unless  we  in¬ 
voke  the  aid  of  miracle ;  for  clearly  the  science  of  two 
thousand  years  before  Christ  was  not  equal  to  it.  Nor 
is  it  a  severe  tax  upon  our  credulity  to  suppose  a  man  to 
be  capable  of  grasping  geometrical  laws  by  intuition, 
when  there  are  so  many  modern  instances  of  intuitive 
apprehension  of  the  intricate  laws  of  numbers. 

Nor  does  it  strain  belief  beyond  reason  to  suppose 
him  capable  of  grasping  the  general  laws  of  evolution¬ 
ary  development,  when  we  know  that  all  history  is  full 
of  evidences  of  the  existence  of  that  power. 

I  repeat,  therefore,  that  prophecy,  in  its  ultimate  anal¬ 
ysis,  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  exercise  of 
human  judgment.  It  is  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect. 
It  is  a  deduction  from  known  laws,  whether  the 
knowledge  of  those  laws  is  obtained  by  induction  or 
by  intuition. 

The  accuracy  of  the  prediction  depends  upon  the 
accuracy  of  the  prophet’s  knowledge  of  causes  or  laws, 
and  upon  his  individual  capacity  to  formulate  correct 
deductions.  If  prophecy  were  the  result  of  direct  divine 
inspiration  this  would  not  be  true.  All  prophecy  would 
then  be  inerrant.  But  it  is  true,  from  the  lowest  order 
of  the  microcephalous  fortune-tellers  or  spirit  mediums 
up  to  omniscience.  I  say  it  reverently,  but  none  the  less 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  335 

positively,  that  omniscience  itself  foreknows  all  events 
only  by  virtue  of  an  infinite  knowledge  of  ultimate  as 
well  as  proximate  causes.  A  positive,  unconditioned 
knowledge  of  the  future  is  impossible. 

I  know  that  I  shall  shock  the  prejudice  of  all  lawyers 
present  when  I  assume  that  omniscience  necessarily 
foreknows  all  things.  I  violate  no  confidence  when  I 
tell  you  that  it  is  an  esoteric,  unwritten  maxim  of  law, 
or  of  lawyers,  that  God  cannot  foresee  the  verdict  of  a 
^etit  jury.  I  admit  that  there  must  be  serious  diffi¬ 
culties  in  the  way;  but  we  must  not  be  guided  by  the 
prejudices  of  mere  human  lawyers. 

When  I  say  that  a  positive,  unconditioned  knowledge 
of  the  future  is  impossible,  I  mean  more  than  would  be 
implied  by  simply  asseverating  that  such  is  the  law 
governing  the  phenomenon  of  prophecy.  I  mean  that 
an  unconditioned  knowledge  of  the  future  is  impossible 
for  the  same  reason  that  it  is  impossible  for  one  to  be 
here  and  at  the  antipodes  at  the  same  moment.  The 
present  and  the  future  in  time  are  just  as  distinctly  sep¬ 
arated  as  this  continent  is  from  New  Zealand.  Local¬ 
ities  are  separated  by  space ;  and  two  localities  cannot 
occupy  the  same  position  in  space.  It  would  be  a  con¬ 
tradiction  in  terms  to  say  that  they  could.  In  like 
manner  successive  events  are  separated  by  intervals 
of  duration ;  and  two  successive  events  cannot  happen 
at  the  same  moment.  That  would  also  involve  a  contra¬ 
diction  in  terms.  These  propositions  are  self-evident. 

It  is  also  a  self-evident  proposition  that  the  mind  can¬ 
not  take  immediate  cognizance  of  two  successive  events 
at  the  same  moment.  It  follows  that,  of  any  two  or  more 
events,  the  one  that  is  happening  at  a  given  moment  is 
the  one  that  the  mind  immediately  cognizes.  Those 


336 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


that  have  not  yet  happened  are  the  ones  of  which  im¬ 
mediate  cognizance  cannot  be  taken. 

The  most  difficult  task  in  the  whole  realm  of  ratio¬ 
cination  is  to  prove  a  self-evident  proposition.  Such 
a  task  is  an  attempt  to  prove  the  existence  of  matter, 
space,  or  time.  They  are  all  self-evident,  and,  logi¬ 
cally  require  neither  argument  nor  proof.  Such  a  task 
it  is  to  prove  that  positive,  unconditioned  knowledge 
of  events  that  have  not  yet  occurred  is  impossible. 
It  is  a  self-evident  proposition.  Yet  we  are  sometimes 
compelled  to  argue  each  of  these  questions ;  for  there 
are  plenty  of  men,  and  some  women,  who  deny  the 
existence  of  matter,  space,  and  time.  And  there  are 
thousands  who  believe  the  exasperatingly  absurd  prop¬ 
osition  that  neither  past  nor  future  exists  in  time;  and 
hence  that  the  mind  can  have  unconditioned  knowledge 
of  events  that  have  never  happened. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  I  am  speaking  of  abso¬ 
lute,  “  unconditioned  ”  knowledge  of  future  events. 
Conditioned  knowledge  of  future  events  is  possible,  to 
a  'greater  or  less  extent,  to  every  intelligent  being.  The 
conditions  prerequisite  I  have  endeavored  to  point  out; 
and  I  again  repeat  them  with  increased  emphasis.  They 
are: 

1.  Knowledge  of  causes  or  laws  governing  the  sub¬ 
ject  matter;  and 

2.  Powers  of  deductive  reasoning. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  prophecy  constitutes  no 
exception  to  the  rule  that  God  governs  the  universe  by 
immutable  laws  which  are  “  never  reversed,  never  sus¬ 
pended,  and  never  supplemented  in  the  interest  of  any 
special  object  whatever.” 

In  the  meantime.  He  has  given  us  two  means  by  which 


PROPHECY,  ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  337 

we  may  acquire  a  knowledge  of  those  laws.  The  first 
is  instinct  or  intuition,  —  a  power  which  was  implanted 
in  the  primordial  germ,  and  which  has  been  developed 
by  evolutionary  processes  until  in  man  its  powers  are 
displayed  in  the  realm  of  the  soul.  The  second  is  by 
inductive  reasoning.  This  is  the  only  method  by  which 
we  can  be  scientifically  certain  that  we  know  anything. 

Intuition  alone  is  swift,  but  uncertain,  owing  to  the 
modifying  influence  of  suggestion.  Induction  is  slow 
and  laborious,  but  comparatively  sure  in  its  results. 
Intuition  finds  a  limited  work  to  do  in  this  life,  but 
reaches  the  full  fruition  of  its  powers  in  the  life  to  come. 
Induction  belongs  exclusively  to  this  life,  though  like 
the  poet’s  eye,  it  “  doth  glance  from  heaven  to  earth, 
from  earth  to  heaven.” 

But  whilst  it  dwells  in  the  prosaic  realm  of  facts,  it 
is  in  constant  communion  with  the  Creator  of  all  things ; 
for  it  reads  his  words  written  all  over  the  face  of 
nature.  They  are  engraved  upon  the  rocks,  they  are 
carved  in  every  tree  and  flower,  they  are  emblazoned 
in  the  burnished  heavens.  And  in  the  soul  of  man, 
induction,  as  well  as  intuition,  reads  the  record  of  his 
divine  origin  and  his  title  deed  to  a  home  not  made  with 
hands. 

Nor  is  it  by  vague  dreams  and  shadowy  speculations 
that  this  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  God  can  be  obtained 
in  this  age  of  exact  science ;  but  by  an  intelligent  obser¬ 
vation  of  the  facts  and  phenomena  which  everywhere 
await  our  study.  Facts  constitute  the  sign  language 
of  Omnipotence.  Facts  are  the  words  of  God,  addressed 
to  the  common  intelligence  of  mankind ;  and  Reason  is 
their  divinely  commissioned  interpreter. 

It  is  upon  these  that  we  must,  in  this  life,  depend  for 


22 


338 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


our  means  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  truth  for  all 
time  to  come.  The  golden  days  of  intuitional  perception 
and  prophecy  are  gone,  never  to  return.  We  have  no 
occasion  to  regret  it;  for  we  are  just  entering  the 
promised  era  of  exact  knowledge. 

Those  were  days  of  primitive  simplicity.  Mankind 
were  in  close  contact  and  intimate  communion  with 
Nature;  and  it  was  to  her  that  their  yearning  souls 
appealed  for  light  and  knowledge.  The  starry  vault 
was  their  open  book  which  declared  the  glory  of  God, 
whose  every  page  showed  forth  his  handiwork.  They 
no  longer  worshipped  nature,  or  any  part  of  it,  as  a 
deity ;  but  looked  “  through  nature  up  to  nature’s 
God.” 

This  attitude,  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual,  called 
forth  all  the  latent  powers  of  the  soul.  The  basic  con¬ 
ception  of  the  prophets  being  founded  upon  the  rock  of 
Eternal  Truth,  —  the  monotheistic  idea,  —  all  their  in¬ 
tuitions  were  in  harmony  with  truth,  just  in  proportion 
to  each  one’s  individual  capacity  and  environment. 
Being  human,  their  perceptions  were  sometimes  vague 
and  indefinite;  but  they  were  oftentimes  mathemati¬ 
cally  exact.  On  the  whole,  they  have  left  mankind  a 
rich  legacy.  They  led  the  van  of  evolutionary  progress 
on  the  one  line  of  its  highest  possibilities,  and  they  left 
a  record  of  Eternal  Truth  which  modern  science  can 
only  verify.  Their  works  were  demonstrative  of  the 
fact  that  God  rules  the  universe  by  immutable  law,  and 
their  lives  were  illustrative  of  the  God-like  powers  of 
the  human  soul. 


XIV 


HOW  TO  PREPARE  THE  MIND  FOR 
SUCCESS 

SINCE  psychology  has  been  elevated  to  the  rank 
of  an  inductive  science,  —  that  is  to  say,  since 
the  psychologist  has  learned  to  rely  upon  facts 
demonstrable  by  experiment,  rather  than  upon  pure 
speculation,  —  the  ubiquitous  charlatan  has  reaped  a  rich 
harvest  in  a  congenial  field.  Especially  since  experi¬ 
mental  psychology  has,  more  or  less  clearly,  revealed 
and  differentiated  two  existing  states  of  human  con¬ 
sciousness,  the  success  of  the  aforesaid  charlatan  has 
been  unlimited.  Taking  advantage  of  the  popular  rec¬ 
ognition  of  man’s  mysterious  subjective  powers,  and 
especially  of  the  now  well-recognized  fact  that  he  can 
be  healed  of  his  infirmities  by  the  induction  of  appro¬ 
priate  attitudes  of  mind,  he  has  assumed  and  proclaimed 
that  he  can  mend  his  estate  by  the  same  process.  Hence 
we  find  the  advertising  columns  of  newspapers  filled 
with  offers  to  “  treat  ”  the  poor  for  “  success,”  for 
“  prosperity,”  for  “  wealth  ” ;  offering,  in  short,  to  con¬ 
vert  every  clodhopper  into  a  “  Napoleon  of  finance,”  and 
every  tramp  into  a  millionaire. 

To  do  such  advisers  justice,  their  “treatments”  do 
no  harm,  and  their  advice  is  often  good.  The  latter  may 
be  summed  up  in  this  sentence :  “  Maintain,  always,  a 
cheerful,  hopeful,  but  determined  attitude  of  mind.” 


340 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


But  there  is  nothing  in  it  either  occult  or  new.  Every 
bootblack  has  learned  that  that  is  the  only  course  by 
which  he  can  get  a  job.  Moreover,  he  has  learned  that 
the  only  way  to  retain  a  customer  is  by  giving  him  a 
good  “  shine.”  In  other  words,  he  has  learned  that 
vitally  important  business  axiom,  —  that  “  a  cheerful 
and  hopeful  attitude  of  mind  attracts  custom,  and  a  con¬ 
scientious  performance  of  duty  retains  it.” 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  that  there  is  nothing 
occult  in  the  new  psychology.  It  furnishes  no  new  rules 
for  preparing  the  mind  for  success.  It  does,  however, 
explain  the  secret  of  the  efficacy  of  the  old,  and  by  that 
means  multiplies  indefinitely  their  practical  utility. 
What  is  of  equal  importance  is  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
causes  which  promote  the  efficiency  of  certain  aphorisms 
or  rules  of  conduct  also  reveals  the  fact  that  there  are 
certain  other  popular  aphorisms  that  are  vicious  to  the 
last  degree.  For  instance,  Shakspeare  has  inflicted  an 
incalculable  amount  of  injury  upon  the  human  race  by 
the  promulgation  of  the  following: 

“  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune  ; 

Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries.” 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  this  passage  has  produced  more 
vagrants  and  tramps  than  has  any  other  equal  number 
of  words  in  any  language,  to  say  nothing  of  the  in¬ 
numerable  throng  of  discouraged  and  disheartened  men 
and  v/omen  Vv^ho  feel  that  some  early  misfortune  has 
caused  them  to  miss  the  flood  tide  of  their  affairs,  and 
that  henceforth  “  the  voyage  of  their  life  is  bound  in 
shallows  and  in  miseries  ”  from  which  there  is  no  escape 
but  in  the  grave. 


I/OW  TO  PREPARE  THE  MIND  FOR  SUCCESS  341 

What  light  does  the  new  psychology  throw  upon  the 
causes  which  operate  to  bring  about  so  much  misery 
and  heartbreak  from  a  cause  apparently  so  slight  as  a 
belief  in  a  popular  aphorism?  It  shows  that  the  soul 
of  man  is  governed  by  the  law  of  suggestion.  His  whole 
life  is  controlled,  for  good  or  evil,  by  the  dominant  sug¬ 
gestions  that  find  lodgment  in  his  soul.  And  the  most 
potent  suggestions  to  the  average  mind  consist  largely 
of  well-worn  aphorisms ;  for  one  is  apt  to  regard  them 
as  the  expressions  of  fixed  laws  of  nature.  Coleridge 
well  expressed  a  partial  truth,  and  builded  better  than 
he  knew,  when  he  said :  “  Exclusive  of  the  abstract 
sciences,  the  largest  and  worthiest  portion  of  our  knowl¬ 
edge  consists  of  aphorisms.”  This  is  eminently  true,  — 
provided  the  aphorism  embraces  an  undoubted  truth. 
If  not,  it  conveys  a  false  suggestion,  which,  if  followed, 
tinges  one's  whole  life  with  false  colors,  if  it  does  not 
lead  to  disaster. 

If  I  were  called  upon  to  assist  in  preparing  a  young 
man’s  mind  for  success  in  life,  I  should  begin  by  asking 
him  to  forget  the  Shakspearean  aphorism ;  for  it  is  as 
false  in  metaphor  as  it  is  in  principle.  The  tides  of  the 
ocean  ebb  as  well  as  flow ;  and  they  do  both  twice  in 
twenty-four  hours.  The  mariner  who  misses  a  flood 
tide  does  not  abandon  his  voyage ;  nor  does  he  deliber¬ 
ately  sail  into  the  “  shallows,”  or  indulge  in  “  miseries.” 
He  simply  watches  for  the  next  flood.  The  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men  also  ebbs  and  flows  many  times  during 
the  average  lifetime.  It  follows  that,  if  there  is  any 
logical  analogy  between  the  two  tides,  the  lesson  to  be 
derived  is  full  of  hope  and  not  of  despair.  It  teaches 
that,  if,  through  the  mistakes  of  inexperience,  the  first 
flood  tide  is  missed,  the  next  is  equally  available. 


342 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 


Having  taught  a  young  man  to  forget  this  Shaks- 
pearean  fallacy,  I  would  first  labor  to  impress  upon  his 
mind  the  true  meaning  of  “  success  ”  in  this  life.  To 
that  end,  I  should  teach  him  that  every  child  of  God  has 
a  mission  to  perform ;  and  that  mission  is  amply  dis¬ 
charged  if  he  so  lives  that,  when  comes  the  inevitable 
hour,  he  can  truly  say :  “  The  world  is  better  for  my 
having  lived.”  This  is  success  in  the  highest  and  best 
sense  of  the  word.  It  may  or  may  not  be  accompanied 
by  an  accumulation  of  wealth ;  for  under  this  rule  the 
millionaire  may  prove  a  dismal  failure,  while  the  hum¬ 
blest  may  achieve  a  brilliant  success,  even  though  it  may 
consist  in  “  causing  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where 
but  one  grew  before.”  The  most  successful  man  that 
ever  lived  on  earth  was  the  poorest  and  humblest.  He 
“  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head.” 

Another  very  important  thing  is  the  attitude  of  mind 
with  which  one  meets  misfortunes.  The  human  mind 
never  framed  an  aphorism  containing  a  more  important 
truth  than  this  one :  “  All  seeming  misfortunes  are 
blessings  in  disguise.”  There  is  but  one  qualification 
necessary  to  render  this  aphorism  of  universal  validity; 
namely,  one  must  have  performed  his  whole  duty  in  the 
premises.  That  is  to  say,  if  he  does  all  that  he  can, 
honestly  and  honorably,  to  avert  a  threatened  calamity, 
he  will  find  that,  if  he  yields  not  to  discouragement  or 
despair  when  the  catastrophe  comes,  it  will  invariably 
prove  to  have  been  a  blessing.  Seeming  calamities  are 
often  the  result  of  one’s  having  mistaken  his  calling; 
and  it  frequently  happens  that  the  best  part  of  one’s  life¬ 
time  is  spent  in  a  vain  search  for  the  work  which  the 
Lord  gave  him  to  do.  But,  if  courage  is  not  lost,  and 
his  career  is  characterized  by  industry  and  integrity,  he 


ffOW  TO  PREPARE  THE  MIND  FOR  SUCCESS  343 

is  sure  to  find  it  at  last.  He  can  then  look  back  upon  his 
past  life  and  see  cause  to  thank  God  for  every  seeming 
misfortune,  as  fervently  as  for  every  season  of  pros¬ 
perity  ;  for  he  will  then  realize  that  each  has  constituted 
a  step  in  the  pathway  leading  to  his  true  sphere  of 
usefulness. 

The  same  rule  holds  good  when  one  is  striving  to 
attain  a  coveted  object  of  ambition  or  of  emolument. 
If  he  does  all  that  he  can,  consistently  with  perfect 
integrity,  to  attain  the  object,  he  may  well  rejoice  at 
his  own  failure;  for  he  will  certainly  realize,  in  due 
time,  that  it  constituted  an  important  factor  in  the 
attainment  of  the  highest  success  possible  within  his 
legitimate  sphere  of  activity. 

All  this,  as  before  intimated,  is  dependent  upon  the 
attitude  of  mind  with  which  one  meets  misfortune.  To 
use  a  homely  phrase,  “  he  must  not  lose  his  grip,”  if 
he  would  transmute  failure  into  success,  or  snatch  vic¬ 
tory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
man  who  “  loses  his  grip,”  as  a  result  of  reverses,  is  the 
one  who  surrenders  his  manhood  to  the  “  tidal  hypoth¬ 
esis  ”  of  Shakspeare.  Necessarily,  all  the  future  of  his 
life’s  voyage  “  is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries.” 

The  psychological  principle  involved  has  already  been 
stated.  The  trend  of  the  life  of  each  individual  is  due 
to  the  dominant  suggestions  that  find  lodgment  in  his 
soul.  Those  suggestions  are  usually  in  the  form  of 
aphorisms ;  and  they  are  effective  for  good  or  ill  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  tenacity  with  which  they  are  held.  If 
they  are  truthful,  they  are  normal  and  encouraging;  if 
false,  they  are  abnormal  and  disheartening;  for  they 
vitiate  thought  and  poison  the  psychological  fountain 
of  success. 


344  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SOUL 

This  does  not  necessarily  imply  special  providences ; 
for  it  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  the  man  who 
lives  a  normal  life,  and  performs  his  whole  duty  to  his 
fellow-men,  has  not  only  placed  himself  in  harmony 
with  his  earthly  environment,  but  with  the  Infinite  Mind 
from  which  his  own  is  an  emanation.  When,  that 
harmony  has  been  achieved  by  man,  he  has  discov¬ 
ered  his  place  in  nature  and  the  perennial  fountain  of 


success. 


FIFTH  EDITION 


THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL 
MEDICINE 


77/(?  Correlation  of  the  Facts  of  Psychology  and 
Histology  in  their  Relation  to  Mental  therapeutics 


By  THOMSON  J.  HUDSON,  LL.D. 


The  book  is  one  to  read  studiously,  and  will  appeal  to  a 
large  class  of  modern  thinkers  who  have  caught  a  theoretical 
glimpse  of  an  existence  free  from  the  misery  of  disease.  Dr. 
Hudson’s  celebrated  work,  “The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,” 
has  paved  the  way  for  the  student  of  psychic  lore  to  receive  and 
digest  his  later  works. —  New  York  Tribune. 

His  theories  are  scientific  in  method,  and  soundly  based,  as 
well  as  sufficiently  untechnical  for  the  general  reader.— .S’aw 
Francisco  Argonaut. 

There  is  no  denying  the  interest  the  book  holds  for  the 
thinking,  earnest  student  of  mental  phenomena,  and  even  those 
who  scoff  and  sneer  at  “  faith  cure  ”  in  its  various  branches  will 
find  much  in  this  volume  that  will  start  a  serious  train  of 
thought. —  N'ashville  Afuerican. 

There  is  nothing  of  the  quack  about  Dr.  Hudson.  His  book 
is  eminently  practical,  and  is  quite  free  from  “the  falsehood  of 
extremes.”  Nobody  can  be  hurt  by  reading  it,  and  it  will  help 
many  to  correct  erroneous  prepossessions  and  misunderstand¬ 
ings. —  Charleston  News  and  Courier. 

“  The  Law  of  Mental  Medicine  ”  is  the  title  of  an  interesting 
book  from  the  pen  of  Thomson  Jay  Hudson,  in  which  he  points 
out  a  simple  system  of  practice  depending  for  its  efficacy  on 
natural  laws. —  Detroit  Free  Press. 

i2mo.  $1.50 


A.  C.  McCLURG  ^  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  •  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


EJGHTIETH  THOUSAND 


THE  LAW  OF 
PSYCHIC  PHENOMENA 

A  Working  Hypothesis  for  the  Systematic  Study 
of  Hypnotism,  Spiritism,  Mental  Therapeutics,  etc. 


By  THOMSON  J.  HUDSON,  LL.D. 


T^R.  HUDSON’S  famous  book  enjoys  an  almost  pbe- 
^  nomenal  prosperity,  and  after  going  through  many 
editions  has  now  reached  the  sixty  thousand  mark  without 
the  slightest  diminution  in  favor.  It  is  not  at  all  uncom¬ 
mon  to  find  it  listed  ahead  of  the  popular  novels  among 
books  most  in  demand  at  public  libraries.  There  are  many 
reasons  for  this  established  popularity,  the  chief  one  being 
that  the  book  stands  absolutely  alone  in  its  field  —  a 
masterpiece  in  its  own  sphere.  The  questions  with  which 
it  deals,  lying  along  the  unsettled  borderlands  of  Science, 
have  all  the  fascination  which  mystery  exercises  on  the 
human  mind ;  the  clear,  unbiased,  truth-seeking  attitude  of 
the  author  earned  for  him  the  respect  of  scientists ;  while 
the  large  class  of  readers  to  whom  the  religious  aspect 
of  such  questions  is  the  all-important  one,  felt  reassured  by 
the  rare  union  of  intrepidity  and  reverence  displayed  in  his 
investigations. 

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NINTH  EDITION 


A  SCIENTIFIC 
DEMONSTRATION 
of  the  FUTURE  LIFE 


By  THOMSON  J.  HUDSON,  LL.D. 


I  HE  success  that  “  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenom- 


A  ena  ”  met  with  induced  the  author  to  prepare 
and  publish  the  present  volume,  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  to  their  legitimate  conclusions  some  of  the 
principles  laid  down  in  his  former  one.  Dr.  Hudson, 
in  pursuing  his  inquiry,  has  endeavored  to  follow  the 
strictest  rules  of  scientific  induction,  taking  nothing 
for  granted  that  is  not  axiomatic,  and  holding  that 
there  is  nothing  worthy  of  belief  that  is  not  sustained 
by  a  solid  basis  of  well-authenticated  facts. —  The 
New  York  Times. 


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FIFTH  EDITION 


THE  DIVINE  PEDIGREE 
OF  MAN 


Or,  The  Testimony  of  Evolution  and 
Psychology  to  the  Fatherhood  of  God 


By  THOMSON  J.  HUDSON,  LL.D. 


N  original  conception  of  evolution  which  is  worked  out 


jr\.  with  the  same  avoidance  of  vague  theory,  and  the 
same  adherence  to  a  basis  of  well-authenticated  facts  and 
to  cogent  and  logical  reasoning,  which  characterize  Dr. 
Hudson’s  former  works.  It  presents  an  original  and  con¬ 
vincing  interpretation  of  the  facts  which  have  been  accumu¬ 
lated  by  the  labors  of  scientists  such  as  Hseckel,  Darwin, 
and  Spencer ;  and  constitutes  an  attempt  to  establish 
thereby  the  belief  in  Christian  Theism.  It  shows  that  the 
god-like  powers  of  man  exist  potentially  in  the  lowest  forms 
of  animal  life  known  to  us ;  and  advances  a  powerfully 
eloquent  argument  against  the  atheistic  attitude  which  so 
many  evolutionists  have  assumed. 

The  book  reveals  much  study  and  research,  and  its  optimism 
is  sure  to  bring  much  cheer  to  those  who  can  accept  its  theories. 
—  Chicago  Tribune. 

An  interesting  and  valuable  contribution  to  the  discussion  of 
a  great  problem. —  The  Sunday-School  Times. 


i2mo.  $1.50 


A.  C.  McCLURG  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  .  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


( 


D00481788- 


duke  university 
library 


DURHAM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 
27706 


